


Strangers on the Bus (Wait for Me at the Next Stop)

by taengoo1



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Bus, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Henelope friendship, Hope doesn't have much money, Hope owns a small gallery, Hosie Endgame, Josie and MG are IT geeks, Josie and MG are best friends, Lizzie is popular on social media, Mutual Pining, Nerd Josie, Older Characters, Strangers to Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:53:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 79,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26738440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taengoo1/pseuds/taengoo1
Summary: Every day Hope Mikaelson gets on the same bus, from the same bus stop to get back to her apartment after finishing work at her gallery. Every day she sees the same brunette on that bus and wonders what her life is like.Every day Josie Saltzman visits her grandma at a senior citizens home and takes the bus to get back to her apartment after. Every day she notices a beautiful auburn-haired girl sitting in one of the front seats and wonders what kind of person she is.Every day they see each other but neither of them dares to speak to the other, until one day an unforeseen event forces them to.OrStruggling artist Hope Mikaelson meets nerdy computer science college student Josie Saltzman on the bus.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 272
Kudos: 383





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't get this idea out of my head... so here it is... ;d
> 
> Not sure how many chapters this is going to have... probably around 10. We'll see. 
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Every day Hope Mikaelson closes her art gallery at exactly 7 PM and today is no different. She turns the lights off and closes the door behind her as she steps out of the small building. She then takes out the keys from her bag and proceeds with locking the door. It‘s her routine, one that she follows without any sort of changes.

Once her gallery is closed for the day, Hope walks to the bus stop which is 10 minutes away from her workplace and patiently waits for the big white city bus to arrive and take her home to her nice little apartment.

The girl has been living alone for a few years now, ever since she graduated high school and moved out of her family‘s house. Hope didn‘t go to college to study art like she wanted to, because her family couldn‘t afford it. Instead the girl worked her butt off until one day she managed to open up her own gallery and she is quite proud of her accomplishments so far.

Hope‘s life isn‘t perfect. Business has been slow for the last couple of months, but luckily the girl has some extra money saved up for such moments like this one. She tries to stay positive that things will get better soon and that business will pick up again.

Her gallery is quite small but it‘s enough for her. She‘s never been a fan of fancy luxurious things, and plus, despite everything, she‘s always managed to pay her rent and bills on time. Her life isn‘t perfect but she‘s happy.

The bus arrives shortly after Hope reaches the stop, so she gets on it at exactly 7:25 PM like she always does.

On her way to her usual seat in one of the front rows next to the window, Hope looks around the bus and sees a cute brunette a few seats back, listening to music and looking out the window. Hope turns around with a smile on her face and then sits down.

She‘s wearing her headphones and music is blasting in her ears from one of the playlists that Spotify has recommended to her. She doesn‘t really pay attention to the song, though, because her mind is somewhere else, just like it always is.

Her thoughts are flooded with images of the cute brunette that she saw when she got on the bus. Hope sees her there every day and wonders what kind of person she is. Of course she‘s never had the courage to sit next to her or talk to her. She‘s too shy to do that. She‘s not the type of person who would randomly talk to a stranger on the bus. So Hope always sits and thinks about her, imagining scenarios about that complete stranger‘s life.

She thinks that the girl is a college student who has just finished with her last lecture for the day and is going home. It would make sense because she‘s carrying a backpack big enough to hold textbooks. Or maybe she‘s coming home from work. She could be a teacher or something. Hope thinks that the brunette gives off a kind of teacher vibe or something.

It‘s nice. Hope enjoys thinking about the beautiful brunette on the way home every day. It makes the ride go a lot faster and more enjoyable because her thoughts are occupied with something that makes her feel amazing.

Hope doesn‘t really know which stop the brunette gets off on because she arrives at her destination earlier than her. There are 5 more stops after hers, so it could be any of them. She could also get on a second bus afterwards. Hope can‘t really know and she thinks that she probably won‘t ever find out because she never misses her stop. She always gets off on it and as she goes to the door, she takes her last glance for the day at the beautiful brunette and leaves the vehicle with a wide smile on her face. She thinks she might look like a total creep but she doesn‘t care.

Once Hope gets home, she quickly prepares something to eat and spends the rest of her evening on her laptop, watching Netflix before eventually going to bed. The cycle then repeats itself over and over again.

Hope doesn‘t complain about it. She loves her routine.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Josie Saltzman is indeed a college student. Her major is Computer Science and the girl is absolutely a total geek. She‘s always been good at subjects like Math and Statistics when she was growing up, and being the curious little nerd that she is, the brunette would always look up additional material online and study on her own, sometimes very advanced concepts at that.

When she was younger she became really interested in computers and how they work, so she started browsing online and became obsessed with programming. She learned basic concepts of algorithms, design patterns and everything that would seem scary to the average person. Josie loved absolutely every second of it.

Her twin sister Lizzie is the complete opposite of her. She‘s what you‘d call technologically challenged. The only things she knows how to do on a computer are to open up her Social Media accounts and communicate with people online via videos, images and text messages. The girl is obsessed with her appearance and works for a small modelling agency as a consultant, advising young girls on how to be perfect.

When Josie isn‘t coding on her computer, she spends the rest of her time doing activities that help her relax and let off some steam. She does yoga and she also visits the senior citizens home every day from 5 PM to 7 PM. For two hours, the girl plays chess or other games that challenge her mind with her grandma Liz Forbes. She‘s the only family Josie and Lizzie have left. Their mother is dead, cause of a car crash years ago with her boyfriend, and her father is an alcoholic who is probably dead in a ditch somewhere. They haven‘t communicated with him in many years and he doesn‘t reach out either. After their mother died, he began drinking a lot more and eventually that‘s all he knew how to do. He wasn‘t their father anymore. He was a monster. Thankfully, both girls moved out after graduation and thanks to their trust fund that their mother had left for them, and Josie doing freelance work as a software developer, they managed to get by and are currently living well.

Lizzie also took their mother‘s death the hardest. She began acting out, became selfish and petty, turning into this shallow person who only cares about herself. Josie shouldn‘t put up with this crap and she knows it but this is her twin sister and she loves her despite everything.

As soon as Josie walks out of the senior citizens home after spending two hours with her grandma, she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. The brunette sighs and quickly pulls it out to check the caller ID. Lizzie is calling her. Great...

Josie rolls her eyes and then hits the green dial button. "What is it, Lizzie?"

"Did you buy the bio apples that I asked you to get?" Lizzie asks her sister impatiently from the other end of the line. No hello, no nothing. Straight to the point and blatantly rude as usual.

"Yes, I did..." Josie tells her as yet another sigh leaves her mouth. She‘s fed up with Lizzie and her weird diets.

"Good, because you know how much I need to lose weight right now. Do you think the girls that I am consulting would take advice from someone with a few extra pounds? I don‘t think so!" Lizzie starts rambling about how badly she needs to lose weight and get into shape.

Josie starts walking towards the nearest bus stop as she listens to her sister‘s shit. She could care less about what nutrients the food that she eats has or how many grams of protein she needs to consume every day in order to have the perfect body.

"Lizzie, I have to get on the bus now. We‘ll talk when I get home," Josie interrupts her sister in the middle of her monologue about how being skinny and acting a certain way is the key to being a successful model.

Before Lizzie has the chance to say anything, Josie hangs up the call and sighs in frustration once again. Sometimes her sister can be a lot.

The bus does end up arriving shortly after she ended her call, so she gets on it at exactly 7:20 PM. It will be a long ride home since Josie and Lizzie live in an apartment in one of the neighborhoods near the end of the city, so she gets off at the second to last stop. It takes her about an hour to get home. It‘s far away but there is no other transport that she can use. She doesn‘t own a car yet. She‘s been planning on buying one but she always delays it with any sort of excuse she can come up with. Truth is, Josie doesn‘t really like driving because of the fact that her mom died in a car accident. She knows that it can happen to anyone and that it shouldn‘t stop her from getting a car, but... she‘s just like that, worried, and the bus is a lot safer in her opinion.

Plus, there is a certain girl that she kind of stares at every day. Once Josie gets on the bus, she sits near the window. It sort of comforts her to lean her head on it and listen to music.

As the bus passes two stops and a few people get on it, Josie notices that it‘s almost 7:25 PM and that they would be near the stop where a specific auburn-haired girl always gets on. Josie smiles to herself at the thought of seeing the beautiful stranger. She sees her every day and that girl always looks at her whenever she gets on the bus, but Josie never has the courage to go up to her an engage in a conversation. IT people are kind of like that, pretty closed off and avoid socializing most of the time. So whenever the girl gets on the bus, Josie pretends like she doesn‘t care even though on the inside she is dying to get to know her and find out what kind of person she is.

As the auburn-haired girl makes her way to the front seats, Josie can‘t help but stare at her beautiful long hair that falls carelessly behind her back almost below her waist. She notices the casual clothes the girl is wearing, that leather jacket that makes her look so sexy and those tight ripped jeans that show of the girl‘s curves so well. Josie bites her lower lip as her eyes dart towards the girl‘s butt and feels so silly lusting over some stranger on the bus like that. She thinks that she‘s such a creep but continues doing it anyway. It‘s not like anything can ever happen between them. They don‘t know each other and Josie wouldn‘t just start talking to her out of nowhere.

Exactly 4 stops before Josie‘s destination, the beautiful stranger gets up from her seat and turns around to walk towards the doors. At that moment Josie and her lock eyes for a mere second and it feels like it lasts forever. It‘s like time has stopped for both of them and Josie swears that it‘s exactly like in the movies where the main characters look at each other for the first time. It might be a second but it feels like it lasts for a lifetime.

Josie looks away in embarassment but tries to appear calm and collected. She can‘t let this beautiful stranger figure out what she‘s really thinking, that she finds her so incredibly beautiful and that she adores those gorgeous blue eyes that she can spot from the other side of the bus.

Once the auburn-haired girl gets off the bus, Josie stares at her from the window and wonders how far away from here she lives and why is she getting home so late every day. Josie can‘t help but create scenarios about the girl in her head. She could be a bartender at some sleazy bar which would be extremely hot by the way or she could just be hanging out with friends there instead of working. It would make more sense since bartenders work a lot later than 8 PM. Considering the clothes that she was wearing, that could be the most probable outcome in Josie‘s opinion. Of course she can never be sure, she needs to collect more data before she can make any sort of conclusion about the stranger‘s life.

Josie sighs and turns up the volume as she continues on her ride home. There are 4 more stops until she gets off the bus and she already can‘t wait to get back to her apartment, have a nice long bath and then work on her assignments for college. Last night there was this pesky bug in her code that she still hasn‘t found a solution for. Hopefully tonight she will so she could turn the project in.

When Josie gets Home about 20 minutes later, she gives Lizzie her bio apples. Her sister ignores her because she is busy taking selfies for Instagram or something, to please her fans as she likes to call it, so Josie heads straight for her room, gets out of those clothes that she is wearing and puts on a bath robe before heading towards the bathroom.

As soon as she‘s inside the tub, Josie feels her the muscles all over her body relax and just takes in all those amazing feelings that she gets thanks to being in the hot water.

As she‘s lying there, thoughts of a certain auburn-haired stranger invade her mind once again. She thinks about what it would be like to hear her speak and wonders what kind of voice the other girl has, whether its deep or maybe kind of high-pitched, but whatever it is, Josie thinks that it would definitely be beautiful just like the girl who has it.

Josie probably spends an hour in that bathroom until she hears some loud banging on the door. "When are you going to be done in there, Josette?"

Damn it, Lizzie. You just have to ruin you sister’s relaxation time.

"I’ll be out in 5 minutes," Josie replies and then hears her sister’s frustrated groan. Like the fact that she’s been in here for an hour is the biggest problem in the world.

"Hurry it up! I need to try out the new oils that I bought today," Lizzie angrily says and crosses her arms in front of her chest while nervously tapping her foot against the floor. "My skin needs to look great for my meeting at work tomorrow. I need to impress the new boss who is apparently very hot from what Maya tells me."

Josie rolls her eyes as she gets out of the tub. She tries to quickly clean up after herself or else Lizzie would probably have a nervous breakdown if she walks inside a messy bathroom.

"All yours," Josie tells her sister after she opens the door. Lizzie stays silent and just walks inside and slams the door behind her.

"Why do I even put up with this?" Josie mutters under her breath and then goes to her room to get dressed and work on her projects for college.

A long night awaits her because of that pesky bug in her code.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hope Mikaelsons turns the lights on as soon as she walks inside her small one bedroom apartment and leaves her keys at the door after locking it.

She immediately hears a bark and her small little puppy runs to her and starts wagging its tail and jumping around.

"I missed you too, Pongo," Hope chuckles and bends down to pet it.

Her day so far hasn’t really been that eventful because only a few people came inside her gallery. Her best friend Penelope also paid her a visit and told her about some new girl that she’s currently hooking up with, as usual. Hope loves her best friend, but the girl is such a player. It’s been like that for years and despite Hope’s efforts to get her to stop breaking poor girls’ hearts, Penelope doesn’t appear like she wants to change her ways.

Hope quickly washes up and changes her clothes before walking inside her small kitchen. She’s always very hungry whenever she gets home from work so she opens the fridge to get some leftover lasagna from the day before. She doesn’t really have anything else to eat honestly, so this will have to do.

She puts the delicious food inside the microwave to heat it up and then waits for it to be ready.

She feels lonely living by herself sometimes and having nobody except her dog waiting for her. She can always ask Penelope to live with her, but that probably won’t be such a good idea considering her best friend hooks up with a new girl almost every night. Yeah, that definitely won’t be a good idea. Hope will not be able to sleep soundly because the sex noises will be too much to handle.

Once she hears the microwave beeping, signaling that her food is ready, Hope takes it out with a satisfied smile on her face. She can’t wait to dig into it and fill that tummy of hers.

When she’s halfway through dinner, though, she suddenly hears her doorbell ring and is surprised because who would look for her of all people. She practically has like one friend and she has already seen her today.

Hope makes her way to the door and unlocks it before opening it slightly and peaking through the gap to see who it is. The girl’s eyes widen is surprise when she notices her ex-boyfriend Landon Kirby on the other side, wondering what the hell he wants at this time of the night and why he’s suddenly looking for her months after their break up. They haven’t communicated since then and she was the one that ended things with him because it just wasn’t working out.

"Landon," Hope says with a surprised tone in her voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?"

Hope doesn‘t respond verbally. She just nods her head and opens the door so her ex-boyfriend can enter inside her apartment. Pongo quickly makes his way to Landon and walks near his feet, sniffing him and taking in the familiar smell of the boy that would come almost every day to visit him back when he and Hope were dating. Landon smiles at the dog and bends down to pet him, then afterwards takes his shoes off. Meanwhile Hope prays to God that she‘s not making a huge mistake right now.

They go inside the room and sit on Hope‘s couch. Landon looks nervous and his ex-girlfriend seems to notice that.

"Why are you here?" she asks him again, sounding a bit impatient because she doesn‘t really want to deal with this right now.

Landon sighs and looks away nervously before speaking. "I miss you," he blurts out suddenly and Hope definitely wasn‘t expecting that.

She thought that maybe he came to ask her for money or something. While they were dating he would always jump from job to job and always ended up spending his earnings on gambling. He‘d then beg for Hope to lend him some, claiming that she‘s his girlfriend and it‘s her obligation to do it. Hope, being the kind soul that she is and due to her strong feelings for the boy, always gave him money whenever she could. She didn‘t have a lot but she wanted to be a good girlfriend. Until one day it became too much and Hope had enough, she couldn‘t do it anymore, things weren‘t working out, so she broke up with him.

Landon took it hard but he left her alone. His best friend Rafael made sure that he didn‘t bother Hope anymore and the girl would be forever grateful to him. Otherwise she didn‘t know what she was going to do.

"Landon," Hope begins speaking, but he cuts her off because he has more to say.

"I want us to get back together," he tells her, his voice sounding determined, like this is something that he is a hundred percent sure of. "Please, give me another chance. I know we can make this work."

Landon then takes Hope‘s hand in his own, but the girl immediately pulls away. "I‘m sorry, Landon. Us getting back together won‘t change anything. I don‘t see you like that anymore and I can‘t force myself to."

Hope explains to him how she feels now and that she sees him in a non-romantic way. The girl prays to got that he understands because she doesn’t want to deal with any drama whatsoever.

"Alright, fine. I can see when I’m not wanted," Landon says after about a minute of silence, his tone spiteful. He can’t bare to look at Hope in the eyes and he’s really pissed off that she rejected him. The curly-haired boy then gets up from her couch and heads towards the exit without saying anything else.

Hope follows him but before he could walk out the door, she grabs him by the arm and stops him in his tracks. "We can be friends if you want."

"No, thanks..." the boy rudely replies to her statement, pulls his arm way, and then gets out of her apartment without saying anything, disappointed that he couldn’t get his ex-girlfriend back.

Hope sighs and locks the door once again, then goes back to sit on the couch. The girl feels so bad about the whole situation that she just buries her head in her hands and starts sobbing quietly. She knows that it isn’t her fault, that she can’t make herself have feelings for Landon again, so there’s nothing she can do, but she still feels bad for rejecting him. The auburn-haired girl hates it that even after all this time, he still has such a strong impact on her emotions.

That night Hope goes to bed in a bad mood. The whole situation with Landon has drained her and now she can’t wait to fall asleep. She tries to think about something else, anything that would distract her from those awful thoughts of her ex-boyfriend.

Thankfully, images of a certain brunette sitting near the window and listening to music pop into her head. That’s honestly the only thing that Hope is looking forward to every day, because she knows that when she gets on that bus, she’ll see the beautiful brunette and her life would maybe become slightly better.

If only she can have the courage to talk to her...


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy <3

On Wednesday when Hope gets on the bus, like she does every day, Josie sees her wearing something different. An elegant blue dress that just shows off her curves in all the right places. It makes her seem like she had just come out of some event or something. You know, the cocktail parties that hotshot business people usually attend. Josie feels like the girl can pull off any sort of attire, but this blue dress is by far her favorite look that she has seen on the girl thus far. It brings out her eyes even more and Josie can’t help but be mesmerized. Ah those gorgeous blue eyes that she wants to stare at all the time from up close. She’s only seen them from a few meters away but it was enough to notice their beauty.

Josie absolutely notices the different look immediately. How could she not? First of all, she is a total stalker when it comes to this girl. She has never been so interested in anyone she barely knows until now. Second, when the auburn-haired beauty got on that bus, she just lit up the whole place and Josie felt like she was in the presence of royalty. Last and probably the most important reason, the girl looked at her for a bit longer than a second when she got on the bus this time, which made Josie’s heart skip a beat.

The beautiful stranger usually wears casual clothing as far as Josie has noticed. At least, she’s always seen her in such ever since the first moment she noticed her on the bus about a month ago. Wow has it been a month already? Josie feels like this thing has been going on for the past year or something. Seeing her wear something so formal ignites something inside Josie and she can’t help but imagine different scenarios of herself and this girl that she can actually see herself doing only in her dreams. She thinks about accompanying her to some fancy cocktail party and images of both of them walking like a badass rich power couple make Josie smile to herself. It seems like something that can only happen in movies. In her images she’s wearing a suit and this gorgeous auburn-haired girl is clinging to her arm as they walk, making every person at that party jealous that she’s dating someone so beautiful, a literal goddess.

Josie shakes her head because she’s getting way too enthralled with this imaginary storyline. She knows that there is almost zero percent chance of something like that happening anyway. She’d never do anything like that in real life since she’s way too anti-social and closed off. She thinks that even if she ends up someday mustering up the courage to talk to the beautiful stranger, that girl seems way out of her league anyway. A girl like that wouldn’t spare even a second glance at a computer science geek like her. No, in Josie’s opinion, this girl deserves someone who seems to be open to actually going to fancy parties with her for real and living life to its fullest, not someone like Josie who can only see herself doing that in her imagination and who most of the time prefers to stay at home and check out the newest version of her favorite software framework for example.

Josie sighs and continues looking at the beautiful stranger, taking in every possible detail of her that she can before the girl gets off the bus in the next few stops. She sees her always wearing headphones, but this time she isn’t, which makes Josie think whether she forgot them or she isn’t wearing them because maybe they don’t go with the dress…

Josie wonders if this girl cares a lot about her appearance like her sister Lizzie, whether she is shallow and stuck up. She thinks that it doesn’t seem that way because a week ago she saw her get up from her seat so an older woman can sit there instead. Still, there’s no way of finding out until she talks to her, so until then, if it ever actually happens, she can just keep on guessing and thinking about the millions of possible outcomes about what this girl’s personality could be and what her life is like.

Hope feels really tired when she gets on that bus but she immediately brightens when she sees the beautiful brunette. She’s still trying to cope with everything that happened with Landon and on top of that she had to attend an art show in her gallery, which required her to dress up.

The blue dress that she is currently wearing was a gift from her father and Hope absolutely loves wearing it for any sort of special events, especially the art shows that she organizes every once in a while. Since business is a bit slow right now, she hadn’t organized an event like this for the past 2 months, but Penelope and the owners of the other 4 galleries in her cluster convinced her to do one, making some very convincing arguments about why she should hold an art show.

Hope meets up with the owners of the other galleries about once a month and they exchange business information and even sometimes work together to create collaborative marketing campaigns. It helps Hope a lot to learn from other people’s experiences, people who are professionals in this area of business that have been running art galleries for many years now.

The art show that she held today went quite well in Hope’s opinion. A decent amount of people showed up and there were some purchases of specific pieces. Hope was pleased but the whole experience was tiring since she also had to socialize with a lot of different people and that can be draining for her. Usually Penelope helps her a lot but this time her best friend was too busy hooking up with some girl and couldn’t make it to the show. Hope made a mental note to give the girl a hard time later for ditching her best friend when she needed her for some random chick.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question, dear?" an old woman suddenly asks Hope, who immediately shakes her head and smiles.

"Not at all. How can I help you, ma’am?"

"Can you tell me how I can call my grandson on the phone?" the granny says and hands her mobile phone to Hope. It’s one of those old Nokia phones with buttons.

The younger girl takes it and quickly unlocks it, then immediately goes to the contacts list.

"What is your grandson’s name?"

"Billy," the granny says with such fondness, letting the infinite amount of love for her grandson show.

Hope scrolls through the contacts and immediately finds the woman’s grandson. She then adds him to favorite numbers so it would be easier for the older woman to call him, with just one press of a button.

"So, you go here on the left and then your grandson’s name will pop up." Hope moves closer to the granny as she starts explaining. "Then you just hit this green button over here and you can talk to him."

"Oh!" the granny happily exclaims because she finally understands how to call her grandson. "Bless your soul!"

"You’re welcome," Hope replies and smiles widely at the woman.

Josie watches the whole thing from a few seats back and her finds her heart melting at the sight. She seems so kind and nice in her opinion. If only Josie can muster up that courage and approach her like that old woman did, then everything would be perfect.

Josie tries to hype herself up and takes a deep breath. She has to talk to her, she knows she does. She needs to be brave. Before she can get up from the seat and go to the auburn-haired stranger, though, the other girl has already stood up and has gone to the door. Shit. Josie mentally swears at the fact that she’s so stupid and that she didn’t realize sooner that they’re almost at the girl’s stop.

Josie thinks that maybe this is a sign that she shouldn’t talk to her yet, like the universe is sending her some sort of message. Oh well, maybe someday...

  
  


* * *

  
  


Josie gets home that night and finds her sister making out with her latest fling Sebastian in the kitchen. She suddenly lost her appetite for anything. Josie really doesn’t like Sebastian. He’s by far the worst guy that her sister has hooked up with. He’s arrogant and sleazy, he treats her like crap but it’s like Lizzie loves it because she just chases after him and begs for more.

Josie doesn’t see herself doing anything like that with anyone. She can never allow someone to treat her like she’s their slave. Her ex-girlfriend Jade was a bit controlling and tried to make Josie do things that she didn’t want to, forbade her to see her friends and basically attempted to isolate her from everyone. That relationship didn‘t last long because Josie just couldn‘t put up with it.

"Can you guys take this to the bedroom?" Josie asked with a slightly pissed off tone. "The kitchen is not a place for these things".

Josie tries to get into an argument with them because she doesn‘t want things to be in their favor and to have them do whatever they want. She tries to be firm and get them to see reason, to listen to her, but sadly, Lizzie and Sebastian completely ignore her. The boy lifts the blonde up and situates himself between her legs as the girl is now sitting on top of the counter. He groans like a feral beast, making Lizzie so damn turned on.

Okay, Josie definitely has had enough of this. She feels like if she stays longer, she‘ll have nightmares. The brunette sighs and then walks out of the kitchen to her room, feeling so incredibly frustrated.

"I so need to move out of here..." she tells herself as soon as she sits down at her desk and turns on her PC, lighting up the three computer screens in front of her immediately.

Being the IT nerd that she is, the girl has a really powerful PC configuration, so that she could code her heart out without any issues.

Josie immediately calms down and smiles as soon as everything loads up, forgetting all about the fact that her sister is probably having sex in the kitchen with that awful arrogant guy. Sitting in front of the computer gives Josie life. It‘s like all her troubles disappear because she goes inside another dimension where she‘s the absolute master and can do whatever she wants.

"I love technology!"

  
  


* * *

  
  


On Friday Hope notices that Josie looks sad. The brunette is not smiling, she‘s just blatantly staring out the window and it seems like her mind is elsewhere. Hope wonders what happened to make such a pretty girl feel like that.

Hope wishes she can just march up there and give her a comforting hug to make her feel better, but of course she can’t. They’re strangers after all. It would be weird. So Hope doesn’t do anything. She just goes to her usual seat and turns up the volume of her music as if she doesn’t feel so much pain in her heart because of the fact that the brunette is not okay.

Josie is indeed very sad that day, because surprise surprise, she has been fighting with her sister all day today. First they were having an argument about Sebastian not treating Lizzie right to which the blonde just told her twin to mind her own damn business and let her do whatever she wanted. Then they were fighting about the fact that Lizzie’s bio apples were missing from the fridge and the blonde accused Josie of eating them. Of course, Josie denied everything because she doesn’t eat stuff like that at all. Then they had the biggest fight they’ve had in years. It was about their grandma.

Josie pays her a visit every single day at the senior citizens home, but Lizzie is not like that. Lizzie hasn’t seen her grandma in months and it seems like the blonde doesn’t care about her at all. Her reason when Josie asked her why was that old people depress her. Josie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What kind of argument is that?

So yeah, Josie is indeed very sad right now and she wants nothing more than to take her mind off every crappy thing in her life. Not even the presence of the beautiful auburn-haired stranger can make her feel better right now. In fact, it kind of makes her even more sad because she feels like a coward. She doesn’t have the courage to go up and talk to her like she’s been wanting to do for the past month.

Josie sighs and decides to get off the bus a lot earlier today, even before Hope’s stop. She does just that and as soon as she sees the bus drive off, she starts walking mindlessly to somewhere with absolutely no direction at all. She just wants to clear her head, that’s all.

When the bus nears Hope’s stop, the auburn-haired girl gets up from her seat and starts walking towards the door. She immediately notices that the brunette isn’t on the vehicle and gets worried. She wonders what happened and why she’s gone. So many horrible scenarios run through her mind, but sadly she can’t do anything about it. She can’t just get off the bus and go back a few stops to look for the girl, since the chances of finding her are slim to none…

So Hope gets off the bus at her stop and proceeds with walking home. On the way she prays to God that the brunette is okay and that she eventually manages to get home safe. The auburn-haired girl has never felt so worried in her entire life, and all for a complete stranger.

"I can’t believe this is happening," Hope mutters under her breath as soon as she reaches her apartment as the images of the empty seat where the brunette was previously sitting on flashes before her eyes. "Why do I care so much about someone I don’t even know. This is absurd." Hope continues talking to herself even when she gets inside her apartment.

Pongo is quick to greet the girl of course. He barks to get her attention and starts jumping around her happily. It’s quite an adorable sight. Hope gets on her knees and embraces the cute doggy as the animal starts licking her face.

That slightly takes Hope’s mind off the brunette stranger. She decides that she needs some way to take all of those emotions out on something, all those feelings that she has for the brunette, she needs to let them out somehow. What she does next is go to the bathroom to wash up and then she’s going to do what she knows best – paint.

After the auburn-haired girl has freshened up, she goes to the blank canvas that she has in one of the corners of the room, grabs her set of paints and brushes and begins creating art. She paints for what feels like hours, and maybe a few hours do actually pass before Hope is finished.

She looks at the clock and sees 01:24 AM on the screen. The girl really went all out with this painting. She pulls herself back a little and admires her work, feeling proud of herself that it turned out quite nice. The painting shows a girl, a brunette, that looks oddly like the stranger on the bus, and she’s looking out the window. Hope paints her face by memory and is surprised that she remembers so much. How could she not, though? They see each other every day on that bus.

  
  


* * *

Josie doesn’t go home that night. She ends up sleeping at her best friend MG’s place, because she doesn’t want to deal with her twin sister’s drama. After she got off the bus and started wandering around the streets, she eventually got cold and decided that she made a big mistake, which resulted in her calling MG to come and pick her up with his car.

They’ve been best friends for quite a while and they’ve both been there for each other through so much. Josie was there for MG when his parents got divorced and he was there for the brunette when her mother died and her deadbeat father wasn’t really acting like a parental figure. MG will do absolutely anything for Josie if she asks him, and that goes both ways. She’ll do anything for him as well.

"So what did Lizzie do this time?" MG asks his best friend as he hands her a warm cup of cocoa.

"Just Lizzie being Lizzie," Josie tells him, rolling her eyes in the process, and that’s kind of all the boy needs to understand that the blonde said something extremely shallow and stupid, which hurt her twin sister’s feelings. "You know how she is..."

Josie refrains from telling him about the fact that Lizzie said old people creep her out and how she refuses to go to the senior citizens home to visit their grandma, because the thought hurts her way too much and she doesn’t really want to talk about it. Thankfully, MG doesn’t push her and stops himself from asking any further questions.

The best friends spend the rest of the night playing video games and talking about nerdy stuff. MG is also a computer science student. Him and Josie have a lot of classes together, so they frequently collaborate on projects and even do a lot of additional work just because they enjoy coding way too much. They’ve also talked about opening up their own IT company one day and how they would be an unstoppable duo of business partners and best friends.

  
  


* * *

  
  


On Saturday Hope sees Josie on the bus again and the brunette looks more than okay, so she feels stupid for worrying so much about her when it was obviously for nothing really. Josie is smiling because there was a chess tournament at the senior citizens home and her grandma won first place, scoring a really cool medal which she gave to Josie as a gift. Josie is currently wearing it and absolutely adores it.

Hope doesn’t fail to notice the medal hanging from the beautiful brunette’s neck. It makes her wonder what kind of competition she’s won. She can see the letter 1 from afar but she has absolutely no idea what sport she’s a champion in.

Hope starts to imagine the girl playing different sports. She pictures her playing basketball first, driblling that ball on the court, sweat dripping from her forehead as she makes her way towards the hoop and slam dunks the ball in, looking sexy as hell. Hope would definitely want a piece of that. Then she pictures her playing soccer and swiftly going past the defense only to score an amazing goal in the end. That soccer uniform would look so good on her in Hope’s opinion.

Little does Hope know that Josie is so far from the athletic field. The brunette barely does any physical activity other than yoga, which kinda isn’t even that exhausting because she’s doing just some light stuff, nothing too tiring, and it’s definitely not as exhausting as basketball or soccer.

Hope is also in a really good mood today, not just because Josie’s happy, but also because business at the gallery is picking up again and she has a few artists who want to showcase their pieces at the next art exhibition. This is great because Hope really needs to make some more money. Penelope’s birthday is coming up and she needs to buy her a nice gift.

The auburn-haired girl gets off the bus at the stop before her usual one because she’s gonna go visit her best friend for dinner. Penelope lives not that far away from that bus stop and had reassured her that they would be alone. This time there won’t be a weird girl she’s had a one-night stand prior to the dinner to make things extremely awkward.

Josie notices that Hope doesn’t get off at her usual stop and finds it a bit strange. She wonders why the girl is changing her route tonight. The brunette keeps thinking whether the stranger is meeting someone, a date maybe, and that makes her feel slightly jealous, because she wants to be the one that takes the auburn-haired girl out on a date.

As soon as Hope is out of the bus, she turns around and looks at the brunette who at that moment ends up looking at her as well, their eyes meeting. Hope swears that time literally stops at that moment.

Josie has one of her eyebrows slightly raised, which Hope notices but doesn’t really think too much about it. She believes it’s probably just a coincidence, or that there is some other reason why it’s like that, but in reality, Josie is confused because of the fact that Hope is breaking her usual routine.

When the auburn-haired girl makes her way to her best friend’s apartment and rings the doorbell as soon as she’s in front of her door, Penelope quickly opens up and Hope notices that the girl is wearing an apron and that there is smoke coming out of the kitchen.

"Hope, thank god you’re here!" Penelope tells her best friend and grabs her hand as fast as possible, then starts leading her to the kitchen. "I burned our dinner, so you need to work your magic and help me fix things or else we’re gonna starve to death..."

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh if only one of them would make a move... ;d Btw I really love the idea of Josie and MG being best friends.. I love their friendship on the show as well <3 It's probably because Kaylee and Quincy are so close, lol ;d Anyway, stay tuned to find out what tragedy happened in Penelope's kitchen and how they're gonna fix her shit... :D 
> 
> Thank you all for taking your time to read the story, commend and leave kudos. I really appreciate it! <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Penelope is definitely a tragic case when it comes to cooking. Hope wonders why she even agreed to let her best friend cook dinner for both of them when she had a feeling that something bad would happen.

The two best friends hurriedly walk inside the kitchen and are immediately engulfed by a fog of smoke.

"Didn’t you think to turn the smoke hood on?" Hope asks immediately with slight panic in her voice.

"I forgot, okay…"

"Damn it, Pen…" Hope swears as she makes her way further inside the kitchen. Her best friend can do such stupid things sometimes.

"Just help me fix this mess," Penelope says, the panic evident in her voice. "Please…"

The auburn-haired girl does just that. She immediately tries as hard as she can to help her best friend clear up the smoke.

"Open up the window," she orders and Penelope does as she’s told. Meanwhile, Hope turns on the smoke hood so that the smoke can be cleared up faster.

Once everything is okay, Hope stares at the burned chicken that Penelope had been cooking and starts laughing loudly. "You’re such a bad cook, Pen…"

The girls end up ordering pizza because it is getting late and that’s the best option that they can think of off the top of their heads. Hope forbids her best friend to use any sort of kitchen appliances for the remainder of the night in order to avoid another incident.

As they’re waiting for the pizza to arrive, the best friends are sitting on the couch in Penelope’s living room and talking. The TV is on but they’re not paying attention to it at all, it’s just background noise.

"So did you approach her?" Penelope asks her best friend, referring to the brunette stranger that Hope has been talking to her about for the past month.

"No, not yet…" Hope doesn’t look at Penelope when she says that because she’s embarrassed that she’s such a coward and can’t talk to the brunette.

"Hope…"

"I wanted to. I really did, but I’m just worried," Hope explains, staring straight ahead the the TV screen.

"What are you so worried about?"

"I don’t know, that it’s going to be awkward, maybe…" Hope continues speaking, her voice shaking and it appears as if she’s on the verge of crying. "I’m not good at this socializing thing, especially with someone I don’t know."

"But Hope… you work with strangers all the time at your gallery. What’s the difference?"

"Because I have a good reason to talk to them. While with the brunette, what do I say? I can’t just go up and tell her ‘Oh I’ve been stalking you on the bus for a month, let’s get to know each other, you’re cute’. I can’t say that to her. It’s creepy." Hope pauses to take a deep breath. "Randomly going up to a complete stranger without a good reason is overall creepy."

"It’s creepy if you’re a middle-aged man who just wants to perve on innocent girls," Penelope argues. She really doesn’t understand why approaching someone is so hard for people because she’s never had a problem with it, hence why she’s so good at picking up chicks. "But you’re a young and very attractive woman. You don’t have anything to worry about. Just sit next to her when you get on the bus tomorrow and say something."

Hope sighs because she’s tired of talking about this, so she gives in. "Alright, I will…"

Before Penelope can say anything more, the two girls hear the doorbell ring. "Pizza’s here!"

Hope smiles when she then sees her best friend jump enthusiastically from the couch and run for the door. She glances at the TV as she waits for Penelope to bring the pizza and notices that there’s a movie on and there are some people on a bus. How ironic…

Penelope comes back a few minutes later with a grin on her face.

"What’s got you all smiling like that?" Hope asks her because she immediately notices the change in her best friend’s mood.

"Just happy that our food is finally here," she states and then hands Hope a box of pizza. "I also got the cute delivery girl’s number."

The girl’s words make Hope rolls her eyes. "Of course you did…"

Hope hates how easy it is for Penelope to just get a stranger’s phone number when she’s been struggling for a month and failing miserably to muster up the courage to even talk to the cute brunette that she meets on the bus every day.

Life is unfair…

  
  


* * *

  
  


On the next day Hope decides that she should sit next to the brunette stranger. She’s waiting patiently at the bus stop at 07:22 PM for the bus. It has to arrive in 3 minutes and the girl is just standing there, feeling really damn nervous. This would be a big step for her, to sit next to the someone she doesn’t know at all. Hope worries that it would appear weird because there are not that many people on the bus and most seats are vacant. If she were to sit next to the brunette, then she’d probably seem like a creep.

Hope tries not to think about it that way and takes a deep breath. She keeps telling herself that she has to do this, that she has to talk to her. Hope looks at her watch and notices that it’s 07:24 PM. One more minute left and the bus will be there, then Hope will just get on it and do what she needs to do.

The buss arrives right on schedule, at exactly 7:25 PM and Hope nervously starts walking towards the usual door that she uses to get on. She sees the vehicle stop and takes a deep breath before taking the next few steps and getting on it. The girl then turns to look at the brunette, like she usually does, with a smile on her face. Unfortunately for her, though, there seems to be someone sitting next to the brunette. It also seems like the other girl knows him because she’s resting her head on his shoulder. Hope frowns and then makes her way to her usual seat, feeling very disappointed. She was really going to sit next to her, but there’s obviously no point anymore in Hope’s opinion. Hope thinks that that’s obviously the brunette’s boyfriend. Of course she’s taken. A beautiful girl like her can’t possibly be single in Hope’s opinion.

Once Hope sits down, she pulls out her phone and opens up Spotify in order to search for a sad and depressing playlist that would describe perfectly how she’s feeling at that moment.

A few meters behind Hope sits Josie Saltzman with her best friend MG. The boy had agreed to come to the senior citizens home today, so they could both spend time with Josie’s grandma. He absolutely adores the older woman and she loves him so much as well, as if he were her own grandson. MG makes her laugh with his amazing sense of humor, bringing tears of joy out of the woman’s eyes. Him joining Josie when visiting the senior citizens home was just such a big treat for Liz Forbes.

"You were right, Jo…" Mg starts speaking, his voice quiet so only his best friend can hear him. "She’s way out of your league."

Josie immediately lifts her head up from his shoulder and hits his arm. "Really, MG? You’re supposed to make me feel better!"

"Ow!" MG yells out and rubs his arm. "I’m just saying what you said."

Josie pouts and starts looking out the window. Sure, she did say to MG a couple of times that the beautiful auburn-haired stranger is out of her league, but it’s different when he confirms it. It makes Josie feel bad, like she’s not good enough.

"I know…" Josie just tells MG, still not looking at him.

"Come on, things might change. Anything is possible if you want it hard enough," MG tries to make the girl feel better because he notices that her mood goes south pretty quick. "It’s like that damn bug that you were trying to fix the other day. You wanted it so much and eventually you did it. This is the same thing. I’m sure that if anything happens that things would work out in your favor."

MG makes a good point and Josie sighs before finally looking at the boy with a smile on her face and leaning her head on his shoulder once again. She feels better now. If she ever does muster up the courage to talk to the auburn-haired stranger, then she will try as hard as she can to get to know her, sucking up all those anti-social tendencies and locking them away in a little black box at the back of her mind, and just putting herself out there, and she’ll also try not to get discouraged by the fact that the other girl is way out of her league in her opinion.

"What did Kaleb say by the way? Can he make it tonight?" Josie asks MG a minute later, completely changing their topic of conversation.

"He can’t make it."

Josie rolls her eyes because she was expecting that. Kaleb is a bit irresponsible and kind of a wildcard. She doesn’t know why her and MG always have such bad luck and are partnered with him for projects. The boy barely contributes to the work. She wonders how he’s even able to pass any of the classes.

MG and Josie met Kaleb during their first year at college and were partnered with him for some project that required them to create a small web app. What Josie didn’t like was the fact that Kaleb would always bail whenever they have to get together and think of ideas for the app, organize their work, etc. He probably met up with them twice. He did do some work and it was good, but MG and Josie did everything else which was like 80% of the whole project. In the end they all got the same grade, which was unfair because they didn’t equally contribute.

They kept telling each other that it was a one time thing, but apparently not, because they were with him for some of the other course projects as well and on top of that he started clinging on to them during lectures and seminar classes. He’s a nice guy but it can get a bit annoying for them sometimes. It was obvious that he likes that they do almost all the work because it lets him pass easier. They would sometimes tell him to do things but in the end they would just get so frustrated and give up because it’s easier to do the work themselves.

"Why does it not surprise me that he’s bailing again…" Josie mutters under her breath and a frustrated sigh escapes her mouth.

Josie sees the auburn-haired stranger get up from her seat a minute later and realizes that they are almost near her stop. Hope doesn’t even pay a glance at Josie when she gets off the bus which makes the brunette a bit sad. She knows that the other girl probably doesn’t even know that she exists even though their eyes have met a few times for like the fraction of a second.

Hope feels like shit. She really feels horrible because she got her hopes up that she might talk to the other girl today. She knows that she’s being stupid for feeling like that over a complete stranger but she can’t help it.

Hope then tells herself that there’s no point to even make an effort to approach the other girl anymore because in her opinion she obviously is interested in that guy that was with her.

Hope goes home that night feeling sad and has no motivation to do anything.

* * *

Josie and her best friend go to MG’s apartment because Lizzie had called to tell Josie not to come home tonight. Apparently she’s busy doing all sorts of kinky shit with her boy toy Sebastian. Josie cringes so hard every time she thinks about her sister and that guy.

"Can we just work on our project?" Josie asks her best friend and sits next to him in front of his computer.

"Sure. Where to we start?"

"Well, we can think about the design and decide on the placement of the different components," Josie says and MG nods in agreement.

"Alright, yeah… Let’s do it," he says and then loads up the necessary software tools they need. Then they proceed with discussing the layout of the app, color scheme, typography and everything related to the user interface, so that they could give the users the best experience.

Then for the next stages of the project, the two best friends organize the work equally among themselves, because Kaleb is obviously no help at all. They have until the end of the semester to finish the whole app because it’s their course project and it will determine 70% of their grade. The other 30% will be from a written test.

During the semester they have deadlines for the different stages of the development of the project so that they update the teacher about their progress and if there are any comments or anything needs to be changed, they can do that.

The first deadline is related to sending mockups to show how the app will look like on different types of devices. Josie and MG do that pretty quickly because they are so in sync that they quickly agree on everything.

A few hours later and after discussing some more details for the next stages, the two best friends decide to call it quits for the night and chill. They’re currently sprawled on MG’s bed, listening to music from his phone.

"Oh…" MG suddenly starts speaking. "By the way, did you see that GOTO Conferences uploaded a new video a few days ago?" MG asks Josie and starts scrolling through his phone to find the YouTube video from his favorite channel that uploads some really cool stuff related to software development.

"I actually haven’t. Oh my god, how did I miss it…" Josie gasps in shock, feeling ashamed that she hasn’t seen it.

MG quickly pulls it up and shows it to her. It’s an 18 minute video that has them geeking out because well, it’s programming related and they just love it. They seem like a couple of overly obsessed fans that can’t stop gushing about their idols.

The two best friends then spend the next couple of hours watching this type of videos and discussing all kinds of different topics related to programming.

* * *

On the next day, Josie goes to visit her grandma at the senior citizens home as usual. The old woman smiles widely as soon as she sees her granddaughter walk inside her room, as if it’s the first time she’s seen her. Liz Forbes is just so happy to be spending time with Josie that she just beams with joy.

"Hey, grandma!" Josie happily exclaims as she goes and embraces the older woman. Liz returns the hug with all the love she can muster up.

"Hello, dear!" Josie’s grandma says with joy. "I missed you."

"We see each other every day, grandma," the younger girl tells her with a wide smile on her face as soon as she lets go and pulls away.

"I know, but it’s never enough."

Her grandma’s words make Josie feel a bit sad because she wishes she could spend more time with the woman. Two hours a day is really not enough, but because of college and her freelance work, Josie can’t really offer much more.

"I know grandma. I’m sorry that I can’t stay for longer than 2 hours," Josie apologizes and takes her grandma‘s hands in her own.

"Don‘t worry, my dear. I know you‘re doing the best you can with how busy you are with school, and I am proud of you for it," Liz tells her granddaughter and squeezes her hands in reassurance. 

"I love you, grandma."

"I love you too, dear. Now let‘s play our usual game of chess. I want to kick your butt at it."

Josie laughs as soon as she hears the old woman‘s words an d then lets her lead them both towards a small table near the window with a chess board and pieces on top of it. They both sit in the respective seats on each side of it. 

"So did you manage to talk to that girl from the bus you always keep telling me about?" Liz asks her granddaughter when she moves one of the pawns on the board.

Josie sighs as soon as she hears the question that comes out of her grandma‘s mouth. "Not yet. I was going to a few days ago but I took too long and she got off the bus."

"Oh Josie..." 

Before Liz can say anything more, the brunette continues speaking. "I will try again. I‘m not going to give up."

"That‘s my granddaughter!" Liz says proudly and waits for Josie to make her move. The girl is definitely good at chess, Liz can admit that. She‘s almost championship material if she has to be honest, which makes the older woman very proud. But being a reigning champion herself, she can‘t allow herself to go easy on the younger girl, so she never lets her win. "How is your sister by the way? I haven‘t received any cards from her in a while."

Josie immediately feels bad for her grandma because she asks about Lizzie with such sadness in her voice.

"She‘s well, grandma. She‘s traveling the world as usual. That girl always goes on adventures," Josie lies. Her grandma thinks that Lizzie isn‘t visiting because she‘s exploring the world. Josie can‘t bear to tell her the real reason why Lizzie isn‘t visiting. She had planned to convince her just this once a few days ago to pay her a visit, with the excuse that she‘s back here for a few days, but Lizzie still refused. How sad...

Josie doesn‘t know how long her grandma has left, so she doesn‘t upset the older woman by telling her the real reason why her other granddaughter is not visiting.

Honestly, Josie is very disappointed in her sister but she still understands where she‘s coming from. Their mother‘s death affected her a lot and with her mental health issues, she gets it. It just makes her sad that her sister is being so selfish and self-centered. The only things she seems to care about are her image and hooking up with that tool Sebastian. Josie sincerely hopes that maybe Lizzie will change somehow and see reason. She really hopes that.

"Where is she now? Which country?" Liz asks her granddaughter, hopeful to hear about some of Lizzie‘s adventures, which means that Josie has to think up something on the spot. 

"I think she‘s currently in Japan, exploring the different cities there," Josie states and then makes a move on the chess board. 

"Ohhh…" the old woman beams in excitement. She is really happy to hear about anywhere her granddaughter has been. "That sounds amazing!"

"It sure is, grandma!"

Josie feels bad that she has to lie to the woman like that but she really doesn’t want to hurt her with the truth. Her grandma has done nothing wrong. She’s always given Josie and Lizzie all the love in the world throughout their lives. She deserves the world in Josie’s opinion, which is why she won’t give up on arguing with Lizzie and she will eventually convince her sister to visit their grandma, at least once in a while.

Josie and her grandma continue playing a few more games of chess and then they talk for the rest of the younger girl’s visit. When the brunette notices that it’s almost 7 PM, she grabs her things and gets ready to leave.

"I love you, Josie," Liz tells her granddaughter as she embraces her before the younger girl has to leave.

"I love you too, grandma!"

Josie then makes her way out of the senior citizens home, bidding goodbye to her grandma and heading to the bus stop. The bus arrives as usual and Josie gets on it and sits on her usual seat.

She doesn’t pay much attention to her surroundings and just stares out the window. Her mind wonders to the beautiful auburn-haired stranger that is supposed to get in the bus in the next 2 stops, at exactly 7:25 PM. Josie smiles to herself at the thought of seeing the other girl.

She finds it so weird how consumed by the other girl she is, by someone she doesn’t even know, but she loves it. The things that this stranger is making her feel are amazing and Josie can’t get enough of it. It’s just that she craves for more. She wants to finally be able to talk to the girl. She’s planning on talking to her today once she gets on and sits down. Yes, Josie feels like she will be brave today and make the first move.

When Hope’s stop approaches, Josie expectantly stares out the window to catch a glimpse of the beautiful stranger. But she’s nowhere in sight.

The smile that adorns the brunette’s face quickly turns into a frown because she’s disappointed. She wonders where the girl is and why she isn’t waiting at the bus stop like she has every day for the past month.

Josie gets worried and wonders whether something might have happened to the girl. She quickly shakes her thoughts away because it could be nothing. The auburn-haired stranger might be on a vacation or just simply busy tonight.

Whatever the reason is, Josie feels like the universe is against her. It’s like it doesn’t want her to approach the auburn-haired girl.

A sigh escapes the brunette’s mouth and she continues staring out the window with sadness in her eyes as she waits for her own stop to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I love Hope and Penelope's friendship. They're adorable... <3 anddd MG and Josie being geeks, hahah :D I also adore Josie's grandma... <3 Such a sweet lady who loves her granddaughters. I kinda feel bad for writing Lizzie this selfish here, but... oh well... <3 
> 
> Damn... just when Hope was about to sit next to Josie, MG decided to be there with her... tsk ;D such bad luck... Anyway, stay tuned to find out why Hope wasn't on the bus that night when Josie was planning on approaching her. 
> 
> Thank you all for your lovely comments, for leaving kudos and following the story! <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Hope ends up staying late at her gallery and doesn’t close it at 7 PM like she usually does. Surprisingly, she has visitors. But they’re not just any visitors, though. The other gallery owners who usually partner up with her to discuss strategies have decided to surprise her at the gallery with a small party.

All of them are actually quite the characters, each very unique in their own way, and they have way too much drama in their lives. Hope can‘t count the amount of times they‘ve told her who they‘ve hooked up with or who cheated on their significant other. They have even more drama than her best friend Penelope. Still, they are professionals when it comes to running a business and Hope can learn a lot from them, so that makes up for the drama. People aren’t perfect after all.

First up you have Linda Dumont, a woman who looks so much like the villain Cruella De Vil because she loves wearing fur coats and her hair is half white, half black. She is a very intelligent 50 something year old woman but when she gets drunk, she starts acting a bit crazy.

"Hope, darling," Linda comes closer to Hope, engulfing her in a hug. She‘s holding a glass of champagne and is obviously drunk because of all that alcohol she’s consumed so far. Of course the other gallery owners brought alcohol. It’s a party after all. "You look ravishing tonight, my dear." 

No, she really doesn’t, she looks the same as she always looks. That’s a bit over exaggerating it. If you were to ask Hope, she’d say that she looks like she usually does, with her work clothes on, no make up and her hair a bit messy.

Hope smiles awkwardly and lets the woman hug her. Oh how Hope hates any sort of surprise parties. She’s perfectly fine with seeing these people once a month for business and nothing more, so this is a bit too much for her.

From the corner of her eyes Hope glances at the second gallery owner who paid who’s at this little get-together. John Goodwin, 35 years old, gay, former bartender. Hope absolutely loves the guy. He has a killer sense of humor and he looks like a supermodel. If Hope was into older men, he‘d definitely be her type.

"Oh leave the poor girl alone, Linda," John Goodwin quickly says because he notices Hope‘s pleading look and then he pulls Linda away from her, taking the glass away from her in the process. "You‘ve had enough of that for tonight. You don‘t want to be throwing up all over your expensive fur coat later now, do you?"

"How dare you suggest that I am this weak?" Linda says, appalled that the man would say such a thing to her, that he would compare her to someone who can‘t handle alcohol.

They start bickering and Hope just shakes her head and moves away from them.  T his is her chance to escape. Of course, she bumps into the third fellow gallery owner, Roman Sienna,  t he young 24-year-old and very handsome gallery owner who recently inherited the  business from his late father. Roman is the definition of hot but Hope unfortunately doesn‘t see him that way because his personality is horrible and it turns her off. He always flirts with her and makes sexual comments. 

"Sorry, didn‘t see you there," Hope apologizes as soon as she feels her body crash into Roman’s. She’s about to fall but the man swiftly catches her.

"If you wanted to touch me, all you had to do was ask, love," Roman tells Hope with a smirk on his face.

"Never in a million years."

Roman is a total player and Hope knows his games. He’s like the male version of her best friend Penelope, but a lot cockier and more insisting, and doesn’t take a hint. He’s been trying to sleep with Hope for a while, but the auburn-haired girl always rejects him.

Hope pulls away from Roman and throws him a glare. She definitely preferred it when his father was running the Sienna family‘s gallery months ago. Ah, the good old days. Mr. Sienna was a great businessman indeed. It’s a shame that Roman didn’t inherit his father’s keen instinct when it came to running a business.

"You’re too hard on the boy," Hope hears the voice of the last gallery owner – Camille. She’s an old family friend and helps Hope out whenever she’s in a jam. Camille is an amazing business woman and always knows just what kind of advice to give Hope whenever she is struggling with a tough business decision that she has to make. 

"He’ll survive," Hope replies with a smile on her face as she pours herself a glass of wine. 

The older woman shakes her head, smiling to herself. "Ruthless, just like your father."

She used to have a crush on Klaus Mikaelson for a long time and they’ve always connected through art, but the man’s heart was always with Hope’s mother Hayley, so Camille backed off and learned to accept that her future isn’t with Klaus.

"I’ve inherited a lot of things from him," Hope says with a wide grin on her face. She loves her father very much.

"Indeed you have."

As the night  goes on, they all  get even more drunk, especially Linda who  shares some weird disturbing fantasies about how  a few days ago she made her most recent lover dress up in a dog costume  during sex . 

"Then I told him to lie on his back, grabbed my strap on, and was about to fuck him so hard, but then he-" Linda is so into her story but sadly gets interrupted by John.

"Don’t tell me he started barking?!" the gay ex-bartender gasped and put his hand in front of his mouth.

"No, the son of a bitch fell asleep…" Linda says appalled and lets out a frustrated sigh. "I heard him snoring…"

Hope  rolls her eyes and  feels like she‘s heard enough of this, so she decides to go outside and get some fresh air. As soon as she steps out of the gallery, she feels the cold breeze hit her and the girl takes a deep breath. Her mind wanders to the brunette stranger once again. She missed the bus  that day so she wasn‘t able to see her. It makes Hope very sad but she thinks it‘s better because the girl obviously has a boyfriend. Hope needs to wrap her head around that fact. 

Hope also decides that it would be best to take a few days off from work. She definitely needs a break, not only because her dreams of actually engaging into a conversation with the brunette and maybe starting some sort of relationship with her went down the drain, but also because the other gallery owners took a lot of energy out of her.

Hope  decides to get back home with at taxi after the party is over and she feels  absolutely exhausted, so she quickly  washes up and  changes  into her pajamas  before go ing to bed. She doesn‘t even bother setting an alarm because she‘s definitely not going to work  on the next day . 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Josie doesn‘t see the beautiful auburn-haired stranger for the past couple of days and she feels so worried. She wishes that she knew what‘s going on with the other girl.

Even though she doesn’t know her, Josie feels so used to seeing her every day that it’s just weird when she’s not there. The brunette’s mind wonders to the worst possible scenarios and her eyes get teary at the thought of not seeing her ever again. Josie keeps thinking what if something bad has happened to the other girl…

The brunette shakes her head to get rid of those thoughts. She tries to imagine happier scenarios like a new job opportunity for the auburn-haired girl, maybe she moved to another  city or country because of her dream job. Whatever it is, if it’s something good, Josie is happy for the girl.

It makes her sad that she doesn’t see the stranger, though. It also makes her annoyed and frustrated, because it’s like It affects her routine. She’s just so used to seeing her...

Truth is, Josie misses the other girl so much, even though she doesn’t know her and they’ve never interacted. She misses seeing her beautiful smile whenever she hops on the bus. She misses admiring her beautiful hair and thinking about what kind of day the girl has had after carefully studying her attire. She misses staring at her. She misses it all and she prays to god that she will see her again. Josie’s scared that she has missed so many opportunities to talk to the other girl and now that she hasn’t seen her at all, she’s worried she’ll never get the chance to talk to her.

Josie gets home that night in a terrible mood and it doesn’t help that she once again catches her sister being in a compromising position with her boy toy Sebastian in the living room.

"Oh my god…" Josie screams as soon as she enters the room. Lizzie and Sebastian pull away from each other, startled because of the loud noise.

"Jesus, Josette!" Lizzie glares at her sister, annoyed because she had interrupted her intimate moments with Sebastian. "What are you doing back home so early?"

Lizzie quickly starts buttoning up her shirt while Sebastian is pulling his pants up. Josie turns around to not look at them, because the sight makes her feel sick to her stomach.

"Early?" Josie yells out in disbelief, still not looking at them. "It’s 8 PM, Lizzie!"

"Well, how would I know that you’ll be back?! You usually go and hang out with that computer geek friend of yours Melvin or something..."

"His name is Milton, Lizzie…" Josie fires back, her voice angry because she’s so mad at her sister. "You’ve known him for years!"

"Whatever." Lizzie rolls her eyes and crosses her arms in front of her chest. Not only is she not getting any sex tonight after Josie cockblocked them, but her sister is yelling at her as well. Lizzie is beyond frustrated.

"I should probably go," Sebastian awkwardly says and starts grabbing his things quickly. 

Josie finally turns around and glares at both of them.

"Yeah, you should," she then tells him with such a cold tone that it would send shivers down anyone’s spine. The boy quickly dashes out of the room and the apartment without saying anything more. Lizzie doesn’t try to stop him because she’s just as angry at her sister as Josie is at her. "Why am I not surprised that he’s here again?"

"We’re hooking up." Lizzie now stands up and moves closer to her sister. "What’s the big deal?"

"The big deal is that he’s here all the time, Lizzie. It’s like he’s permanently living with us." Josie has had it with Sebastian always being around and with so many other things that Lizzie does. She was frustrated from before, because she hadn’t seen the beautiful auburn-haired stranger for a few days, and now Lizzie pushing her buttons makes things even worse.

"You bring Melvin here too…" Lizzie throws her a glare, saying MG’s name wrong once again, which drives Josie crazy.

"How many times do I have to tell you that his name is Milton!" Josie screams at her sister so loudly that anyone would feel sorry for the poor neighbors that live in the apartment above theirs. "I’ve only invited him here yesterday because we had to work on a project for college while Sebastian is here every single night…"

"Whatever…" Lizzie just shrugs, trying to appear like she doesn’t care, but deep down she is fuming so much. "Are you done? Don’t you have your nerd things to do?"

"Oh my god, Lizzie…" Josie hasn’t been this upset in a while. She had fought with Lizzie about Sebastian the week before as well, but it wasn’t this bad. "You are so selfish. You bring Sebastian here all the time, you don’t go and visit grandma, you never lift a finger around the house and always wait for me to do everything. You’re only care about yourself and I’ve had it."

Josie then heads straight to her room, tears now streaming down her beautiful face.

"Well, if I’m such a terrible sister, then I’ll fucking move out of this shit hole." Josie hears Lizzie yell out just before she enters her room.

"Fine with me!" Josie screams and then slams the door. The brunette gets down to her knees afterwards, her back leaning against the wood, and buries her face in her hands. She feels so horrible because of the fight with Lizzie, like nothing in this world can make things okay at the moment.

Josie goes to bed shortly after that, trying desperately to forget about how shitty life can be sometimes.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hope Mikaelson has been in bed for a few days, feeling absolutely miserable. It all started with a damn hangover after that little get-together at her gallery with the fellow gallery owners, then it was watching cheesy romance movies on Netflix in bed while eating chocolate and snacks, and feeling sorry for herself because she’s single and the only person she likes probably doesn’t know she exists and has a boyfriend.

The only times Hope has gotten out of bed have been to go to the bathroom, to get more food, feed her dog and to take it out for a walk. She hasn’t showered, hasn’t changed out of her pijamas for days, and is an absolute mess.

She often wonders about the brunette stranger that she has a stupid crush on. She thinks about how she is, what she’s doing, whether she’s with the person Hope thinks is her boyfriend.  The auburn-haired girl can’t stop thinking about what it would be like if she was in his place. How she would take the  brunette out on cute dates, bring her flowers, you know, all those cheesy things. She’s definitely watched way too many romance movies to know how to be the perfect date. 

Hope feels so sad that she can’t do all the things she wants to do for the brunette and feels so stupid for being way too shy and scared to talk to her, as if the other girl will eat her or something.

Just as Hope is about to start watching yet another romance movie, she hears her doorbell ring and her dog Pongo barking loudly.

"Just great," Hope mutters under her breath as she slowly hops off the bed and forces herself to go and answer the door. She already knows who it is on the other end. Penelope Park, her best friend, the girl who she’s been avoiding for a few days because she doesn’t want to talk to anyone and Penelope is kinda her only friend. Unless you count Camille, but they don’t usually hang out. They mostly contact each other around the business meetings and get-togethers, and when either one of them needs some sort of favor, or they see each other at family gatherings, because her father usually invites Camille. 

Hope opens the door and is immediately greeted by the angry face of her best friend. She knows she’s fucked up, like really fucked up, because Penelope looks so pissed.

"What the hell is going on with you, Hope? You’ve been ignoring me for days," the raven-haired girl practically yells at Hope as she walks inside the apartment. Hope doesn’t say anything and just closes the door, then follows the raven-haired girl along with Pongo who is jumping around and wagging his tail. They all make their way inside the room and Penelope looks around, gasping in shock when she witnesses the state of the apartment. There are clothes everywhere, a plate with a half-eaten sandwich in Hope’s bed, wrappers and all sorts of junk all over the place. There’s even a bag, obviously filled with trash, right near Hope’s bed where she throws out some stuff that she’s eaten."Oh my god, this place is a dump." Penelope is now pacing around the room and talking non-stop. "It smells like something died in here and you look like a total mess by the way. I didn’t know things were so bad with you. Why the hell have you been ignoring me? Is this because of Landon? Did he do something again? Or maybe you hooked up with someone else and they broke it off? Is it that brunette from the bus?" Penelope then takes a look at the romance movie that is on the laptop’s screen. "Shit… Romance movies… This is bad, so so so bad…"

"Penelope, stop…" Hope finally yells out because she’s had enough of her best friend’s panicked state and her obvious overreaction. She places her hands on the other girl’s shoulders and stops her in her tracks. "I’m fine. Alright? I’ve just been recovering from a party…"

"For days? It can’t be just that, Hope…" Penelope doesn’t believe her. She knows that there is something more behind this story.

"Fine, maybe I’ve also been a bit depressed that I haven’t talked to the brunette and that I saw her leaning her head on some guy’s shoulders. He’s probably her boy-"

Penelope interrupts  her .  " No! Hope, you  don’t know that. He could be just her friend or something. You and I can be really touchy sometimes too. Doesn’t mean that we’re dating. Don’t go making conclusions so fast..."

"I don’t know, Pen. It really seemed like they were dating." Hope sighs and suddenly feels very sad once again.

"Listen to me. You won’t know unless you talk to her," Penelope continues arguing with her best friend. "The next time you see her, you are going to talk to her, got it? Promise me, Hope!"

"Pen…"

"Don’t Pen me! You, Hope Mikaelson, are going to talk to that girl or else I’m going on that damn bus and talking to her myself!" Penelope orders, making Hope’s eyes widen. She can’t let Penelope anywhere near the beautiful brunette, no way. She’ll just make things worse.

"Alright, fine. I’ll talk to her."

Penelope smiles, happy and satisfied with herself that she convinced Hope. "Good! Now get dressed and take a shower while I clean this place up. You and I are going out."

* * *

After they both get ready, the apartment is spotless and Pongo is walked and fed, Hope and Penelope make their way out. They end up at some club which makes the auburn-haired girl immediately regret agreeing to go out with her best friend. It’s so loud inside the club and of course, Penelope ends up getting drunk after their first hour of being there, so Hope has to stop her from doing something stupid. She’s already saved her ass from going home with a few guys who obviously seemed like bad news and from taking her clothes off in front of everyone on the dance floor.

"Pen, come here," Hope says and pulls the other girl towards her, trying to steady her. Penelope feels so light-headed and leans on her best friend immediately.

"Hope, you’re the best friend in the world," Penelope tells her and buries her head in the crook of the other girl’s neck. "You also smell so good right now."

"I try my best," Hope responds with a smile, her answer directed to the first question mostly. She doesn’t know about the smell because for the past few days it wasn’t pleasant and she knows it. Hope really does love Penelope so much and values their friendship. It’s one of the most important things in the world to her.

"I don’t know what I would do without you," Penelope confesses, making Hope chuckle and shake her head in amusement. Her best friend is supposed to be the one taking care of her because Hope is sad and depressed, but it turns out the other way around, and as usual, Hope is the one taking care of Penelope.

When Penelope pulls away, she ends up reaching for her drink, ready to gulp down the rest of it, but Hope is quicker than her, pulling it away as fast as she can. "You’ve had enough for tonight."

"But I want more, Hopeeeee," the raven-haired girl whines like a child, making Hope roll her eyes.

"No, I’m not letting you drink more," Hope tells her with a stern voice.

Penelope ends up pouting, but does as she’s told. They stay for a little while longer at the club before Hope tells her best friend that it’s time to go.

The two best friends then make their way out of the club and  grab a taxi, taking them to Hope’s apartment. The auburn-haired girl is definitely not going to leave Penelope alone in this state. It’s better that she takes her home with her.

* * *

Hope goes to work on the next day as  usual . She left Penelope at her apartment to sleep in and quickly made her way to the gallery. Business is slow and for once, Hope is thankful for that because she doesn’t feel like talking to people. The only one she really wants to talk to and who she thinks about throughout the whole day is the beautiful brunette stranger that she’ll meet as soon as she gets on the bus. 

Hope can’t stop thinking about her all day. She looks at the paintings inside her gallery and a lot of them remind her of the other girl. There are small things that make her mind go places. Like for example, there is an abstract painting which has a lot of yellowish colors and Hope thinks about the time she saw the brunette with a cute yellow T-shirt with a banana on it. The thought makes Hope smile so widely because the girl looked adorable in that T-shirt.

Then there is the painting that Hope made recently. She had hung it up in the gallery the day after she  painted it and it always reminds her of the brunette, because it is her  on it , looking out the window,  being absolutely breathtaking . Hope absolutely adores that painting because it makes her feel like the other girl is there with her at the gallery.  Of course, it’s nothing like the real thing and Hope would rather prefer for the brunette to actually be there with her in person.  Hope daydreams about talking to the  other girl and  making her laugh with one of her stupid jokes.  She can’t count the amount of times she’s thought about that particular scenario...

Before the girl knows it, closing time comes and she locks up the gallery at 7 PM as usual, then makes her way to the bus stop. 

Around the same time, Josie gets out of the senior citizens home after visiting her grandma. She is smiling widely because the older woman managed to cheer her up during their chess game and it definitely took her mind off the fight she had with Lizzie the day before.

Her sister had threatened her that she’ll move out, which Josie knows is not going to happen, because Lizzie always says things she doesn’t mean when she’s angry. Things between them have been bad today as well, even though they haven’t shouted at each other. In fact, they’ve barely talked. Josie regrets going off on her sister that hard and that she was yelling at the girl instead of talking seriously like a normal adult, but she won’t apologize. She is always the one who apologizes, but not this time. This time she’ll wait until Lizzie apologizes.

Josie reaches her bus stop and looks at the board which says how many minutes until the bus shows up.

"5 minutes," Josie says to herself and then decides to keep walking to the next bus stop with the idea that when she reaches it, the bus will be there. She needs to walk more anyway, because she doesn’t get enough exercise.

So Josie walks to the next stop and when she gets there, she looks at the board and sees that it says 5 minutes again, like the one on the previous stop. Josie thinks that that’s very strange, because she can’t be walking that fast, but she eventually shrugs it off and continues walking to the next one.

As she’s  making her way there , Josie is thinking that the next stop is the one where the auburn-haired stranger usually gets on, but since Josie hasn’t seen her for a few days, she wonders if the other girl w ould  probably even be there.

Suddenly, Josie is once again in a bad mood at the thought of not seeing the stranger for a few days. She misses her so much, which she finds so weird because she doesn’t even know her.

Josie keeps walking towards the bus stop and her eyes spot the familiar figure in the distance. It’s the auburn-haired stranger, waiting at her usual bus stop. Josie immediately smiles widely,  her mood instantly getting better .  This is great in Josie’s opinion.  The  stranger is healthy, nothing bad has happened, she hasn’t moved to another city or something,  and t his is Josie’s chance to finally talk to her. 

When Josie reaches the bus stop, Hope immediately notices her and her eyes widen in shock, because she hadn’t expected to see the brunette at all. She’s never seen her at this stop and wonders what the hell she’s doing here.

Josie goes near the board and sees that it says 5 minutes once again, like at the last two stops. A sigh escapes her mouth and she turns to the auburn-haired stranger who is looking at her with an unreadable expression. Hope tries to play it cool, like this is not a big deal even though deep down she is nervous as fuck.

"It’s been on 5 for the past 20 minutes," Hope just says, surprising Josie that she’s actually talking to her. If they weren’t the only two people at the bus stop, Josie would think that the girl was talking to someone else.

"It said 5 on the boards of the two previous stops as well," Josie tells her, her voice shaking a little because she’s nervous talking to Hope. She feels her heart beating rapidly, like it’s going to burst out of her chest. She doesn’t usually talk to pretty girls like Hope.

Hope nods before asking, "You walked all the way here?"

It’s obvious that the brunette walked so Hope mentally facepalms at the stupid question she’s asking.

"Yeah, I uh… didn’t want to stay at one place and I don’t get enough exercise, so…"

Josie doesn’t know why she’s explaining herself so much to the stranger when she doesn’t even know her.

Hope chuckles because she never would’ve guessed that Josie doesn’t get enough exercise. The girl practically looks like an athlete in her opinion. She moves closer to the brunette and says, "I’m Hope by the way."

Josie smiles when she sees Hope extending her  arm and she quickly grabs  her hand , the butterflies in her stomach now feeling like a whole fucking zoo. 

"I’m Josie," she tells her and shakes the auburn-haired girl’s hand. Hope feels just as nervous as the other girl but she tries to keep it together. She tells herself that she can do this. She talks to strangers at her gallery all the time. This is no different. Except that it is, because Hope has a massive crush on this beautiful girl that’s standing before her. She tries not to think about the fact that Josie might have a boyfriend and tries to focus on continuing their conversation right now.

Hope finds the brunette’s name to be absolutely beautiful,  perfect for an angel, while Josie thinks that the auburn-haired girl’s name is very fitting, because ever since she started seeing her on the bus, the sight of her has always given her hope that everything happening in her life would get better. How ironic it is that the girl’s name is actually Hope.

When both girls let go of each other’s hands, they smile softly and then continue waiting for the bus to arrive.

"I don’t think the bus is coming," Hope casually says a few seconds after, because she doesn’t want there to be silence between them and wants to continue talking to Josie.

Josie sighs and takes her lower lip between her teeth, biting it a little. It’s something she always does when she’s nervous or anxious. Right now it’s both because not only is the bus not coming, but she’s talking to such a beautiful girl.

"I think you’re right," she agrees with Hope.

"Maybe we should call a taxi or something?"

Josie gets a little sad when she hears Hope’s words because she wants to stay at this bus stop with the girl for hours and talk with her. The auburn-haired girl once again mentally facepalms, because she doesn’t really want to get a cab. She also, same as Josie, doesn’t want to leave this bus stop and wants to continue talking.

"I can call someone to pick us up. There’s no need for a taxi," Josie tells her which makes Hope immediately wonder who the brunette is going to call. It’s probably going to be her boyfriend in Hope’s opinion. Before Hope can say anything, Josie quickly dials MG’s number. "Hey, the bus isn’t coming tonight. Can you come here?"

Josie then proceeds with explaining her exact location to MG and ends the call with something along the lines of ‘You’re a lifesaver!’ which makes Hope feel like the girl definitely called that guy she was with at the bus. She also heard a male voice from the other end of the line, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying because the volume wasn’t that high.

"You guys don’t need to drive me home," Hope tells her because she feels a bit uncomfortable having some strangers pick her up and take her home. "I can get a taxi. It’s fine..."

"We’re not killers, don’t worry. We’re just a bunch of IT geeks," Josie explains because she thinks that Hope might be nervous that some people she doesn’t know want to drive her home just like that. Josie then chuckles. She has loosened up a little bit and the initial nervousness from before is barely there. "It’s no problem, really."

"So, you work in IT?" Hope asks, surprised because she didn’t expect Josie to work at such a position. She had thought she was more of a sports type, but hearing what the girl does for a living and the fact that she had said that she doesn’t exercise enough when she arrived at the stop, makes Hope wonder how many other things that she’s imagined are wrong.

"Yeah, I do some freelance work. I’m also a college student. I study Computer Science at Whitmore," Josie explains and Hope swears that the brunette can see the surprise written all over her face. At least she managed to guess that the girl’s a college student.

"But Whitmore is at the other end of the city. What are you doing all the way over here?" Hope curiously asks and knows that she shouldn’t ask someone she just met such a question, but she can’t help it. 

Josie doesn’t seem to mind the fact that Hope is asking her questions. In fact, she prefers it because it’s easier for her this way. She’s usually bad at this conversation stuff. "I visit my grandma at the senior citizens home a few blocks down every day."

"I see…" Hope says and then is about to ask yet another question but she and Josie see a red vehicle approaching the stop.

"Oh he’s here," Josie quickly says and Hope frowns when she hears the pronoun. The brunette then motions for the girl to follow her. "Come on."

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Hosie finally talked to each other! Yay! Go Hosie! :D 
> 
> I was going to upload this chapter earlier, but I've been sick last week and a few days ago as well... I don't know what's wrong, I guess it's some sort of flu or something. Hopefully it's gone now, but we'll see. 
> 
> This chapter is almost twice as longer as the usual ones, so I hope you enjoyed it. A lot of things went down... :D 
> 
> Stay tuned to find out what happens next in the story and how Hosie's relationship will progress from here on. ^-^
> 
> Thank you all for leaving kudos and writing amazing comments on the story. You guys are awesome! <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Hope quickly follows Josie and gets inside the car. She greets the boy politely and sits in the back seat while Josie goes to the passenger’s. It feels a bit weird for Hope to just get inside a stranger’s car like that and the unfamiliar setting makes her a bit on edge. She just prays they don’t actually end up being serial killers or something.

"Hey, MG," she tells him and gives him a hug before putting her seatbelt on. Hope looks at the two and immediately feels nauseous. She regrets stepping foot inside the car but it’s too late to back out now and plus, she’d actually prefer to not pay for a taxi. The girl is struggling with money enough as it is.

MG turns around to look at Hope and smiles at the auburn-haired stranger who just sits there, feeling very very awkward. The boy then puts out his hand so she could shake it and says, "I’m driver extraordinaire MG. Nice to meet you."

He thinks that it might lighten up the mood a little but Hope just feels even more awkward. She forces a smile and shakes the boy’s hand. "I’m Hope."

"Don’t mind him. He’s an idiot," Josie says and playfully slaps the boy.

MG gasps, pretending to be offended. "You’re lucky that I came to save your ass at all with that attitude."

Josie rolls her eyes when her best friend says that. "Fine. He’s a great driver."

"The best driver." MG corrects her and Josie feels super embarrassed because she thinks that Hope might find both of them weird or annoying or something. Considering how the girl just sits there awkwardly with an unreadable expression, that’s exactly what Josie thinks.

"MG, please…" Josie pleads, giving up on the bickering with the boy.

Hope tries to appear less awkward than she feels and she’s also trying to contain her burning jealousy. She sees the way Josie and MG playfully tease each other and also the way Josie pouts which Hope finds absolutely adorable by the way. She also notices the way Josie smiles at the boy with that mesmerizing smile of hers. But it also makes her heart hurt because she finds herself wishing that the brunette was smiling at her like that.

"Where to, Hope?" MG suddenly asks, snapping Hope out of her thoughts.

"Oh… umm, I live near Pritchett theatre. You can drop me off there," Hope says, sounding a bit distracted and hoping nobody will notice. She decides that it’s better to be cautious and not give her home address to people she practically just met.

"I know where that is. It‘s right next to that new Trade center that opened up recently, right?" Josie jumps into the conversation, surprising Hope. The girl nods and Josie continues talking. "That‘s also near the comic book store that MG and I have been going to since we were kids."

Hope realizes that these two are childhood friends and starts making up som e scenarios in her head about how they began dating when they were in high school and have been together ever since. The thought makes her so sad because there‘s no way she can compete with someone like that for Josie‘s heart. Not that she would try or anything. She‘s not someone who would try to break a couple up. She doesn‘t want to be the other woman or whatever you call it.

"Cool. We‘ll be there quickly," MG says and starts driving to the destination.

Silence engulfs the car which makes Hope feel even more awkward. Not only is she in a vehicle with two strangers that she just met, but she can‘t seem to come up with anything to say. The only thing she‘s thinking about is how the two are probably a couple and how she has to try to get over this major crush that she has on the brunette when she wants nothing more than to hug and kiss her, and maybe do other very inappropriate things to her. She keeps thinking about how Josie would probably think that she‘s a psycho for having thoughts like these for someone she just met, but Hope just can‘t help it. She finds the brunette absolutely gorgeous and the images of the two of them going on cute dates just pop into her mind, or them maybe hooking up afterwards behind an alleyway, you know, whatever works. 

Josie, on the other hand, is smiling because she is so happy that fate brought her and Hope together on that bus stop, otherwise she wouldn‘t have had the courage to talk to her for the next few weeks or months, maybe years, and it would‘ve been too late. So Josie feels very very happy. She turns around a few times for different excuses, just so she could glance at Hope. She notices that the girl is biting her lower lip and it kind of turns Josie on but she quickly gets rid of those thoughts. She doesn‘t want to see herself as a sex-crazed freak even though she is definitely a bit desperate. She hasn’t gotten laid since she and Jade broke up, so it‘s been a while. Josie finds Hope to be so incredibly beautiful, the most beautiful girl she‘s ever laid her eyes on. She thinks about how she could‘ve sat in the back seat next to her but she didn‘t because it would‘ve been weird and she always sits in the passenger‘s seat next to MG. 

"You guys seem like a cute couple," Hope suddenly blurts out of nowhere, surprising both MG and Josie. "How long have you been dating?"

Hope doesn‘t really know why she just asked that. It just kinda came out. She felt awkward and was thinking about MG and Josie dating, and it just happened. Hope feels embarrassed now asking them when she just met these people really, but it‘s over know. It‘s out there and she‘s going to get a confirmation about whether they are actually dating or not. 

Both MG and Josie immediately burst out laughing because the idea of the two dating sounds absurd to both of them.

"Josie and I are best friends," MG states through fits of laughter and Hope immediately releases the breath she didn’t know she was holding since she asked the question.

"Yeah, I’d never date him. It would be weird." Josie chuckles, making MG gasp. 

"I am a great boyfriend, Jo. You‘re missing out!" he says jokingly. 

Both of them then continue laughing and for the first time since she got inside that car, Hope joined in on it. She felt better knowing that the two are just best friends and that she probably has an actual chance with Josie. That is, if the brunette is into girls. Hope decides from that moment on that she will try everything to get close to Josie and learn what kind of person she is. For now, Hope really likes what she sees. Josie seems like a nice girl with a great sense of humor and kind of a nerd which Hope is super into by the way.

As soon as they stop the car in front of Pritchett theatre, they all bid each other goodbye. Hope sees MG drive off as soon as she gets out of the car and she makes her way to her apartment. It’s around 5 minutes away and the auburn-haired girl can’t help but smile the whole way. She’s happy, very very happy that she got to finally talk to Josie.

  
  


* * *

  
  


On the next day, Hope is in a great mood. She goes to her gallery as usual and has that dopey grin from the night before still on her face. She can’t wait for tonight when she would see Josie again on the bus as usual.

"You seem happy," Penelope points out as soon as she sees Hope.

"Pen!" Hope happily exclaims when she sees her best friend approach her. She quickly engulfs Penelope in a hug and squeezes her tightly. "I finally talked to her!"

Penelope quickly pulls away from the hug and stares at her best friend with a surprised expression because she didn’t really expect Hope to actually go up and talk to the stranger. The girl guesses that her little threat actually worked.

"Oh my god! You actually did it!" Penelope says in excitement and is very happy for Hope for finally taking a step with the girl from the bus that she’s been obsessed with for a while.

"Yes! Her name’s Josie and she’s the sweetest and cutest person I’ve ever met!" Hope gushes and has that absolutely dreamy expression that you usually see in movies. She’s madly crushing on Josie, so it’s only normal.

"You’re adorable." Penelope giggles and touches her best friend’s shoulder. "I’m proud of you."

Hope spends the next hour and a half telling her best friend absolutely everything that happened when she met Josie and what the girl is like. She tells her everything that she noticed about Josie from the brief talk they had at the bus stop and judging by their interaction inside MG’s car. Hope just can’t seem to stop talking about the brunette which Penelope finds cute. She hasn’t seen her best friend this excited about anyone in her life. In her opinion, this Josie person must be special if she managed to ignite such a spark inside Hope and bring out all those emotions, turning the auburn-haired girl into a gushing mess.

"Her eyes are this really cute shade of brown that just reminds me of chocolate and they perfectly reflect her sweet personality," Hope gushes on and on. "She also has this adorable pouty expression. I saw it when she was at the bus stop and was looking at the board to see when the bus would come."

"Hope, you’re officially obsessed with her." Penelope laughs at her best friend.

"What? No! No, this is normal."

"Yeah, sure," Penelope says and continues laughing. "Keep telling yourself that, stalker."

Meanwhile, Josie Saltzman is inside her room and lets out a frustrated sigh as she stares into the computer screen and the chunk of code that she’s written. She is trying to concentrate and do an assignment that she’s supposed to finish by tomorrow for one of her classes, but her mind keeps wandering somewhere else. She can’t stop thinking about Hope and her gorgeous smile and beautiful auburn hair that falls perfectly on each of her shoulders. Josie is so glad that the bus didn’t arrive the night before because circumstances brought her to Hope somehow and she was finally able to talk to the girl.

It turned out that the bus had some engine problems and ended up being delayed for two hours. It was on the company’s website. Josie knows this because she checked as soon as she got home the night before. The moment she read about it, she was thankful that at least there wasn’t some serious traffic accident or something and all the passengers were okay. Josie then ends up wondering if maybe, this is in fact fate’s doing, that the bus wasn’t supposed to arrive that night and that she was destined to finally interact with Hope on that bus stop because maybe they were supposed to meet and play a big part in each other’s lives.

Another sigh escapes her mouth and she tries to write some more. The problem is that she’s not really into it right now. It’s like she has developer’s block or something and she hopes that it will pass quickly because she has deadlines after all. It also isn’t helping that Lizzie is being super loud in the next room. Josie wonders what her sister is actually doing, but she doesn’t really want to go there and talk to her. Their relationship has been very strained ever since they had that huge fight a few days ago.

Just when she thinks about Lizzie and not wanting to talk to her, the blonde kind of barges into Josie’s room, startling the brunette and making her jump in her seat.

"Josette, where is my blue sweater? I know you have it," Lizzie blatantly accuses her sister of taking her clothes. "You always take my things without my permission."

"Lizzie, I haven’t taken anything from you," Josie defends herself immediately and it’s the truth, but sadly, her twin doesn’t believe her.

Lizzie continues accusing her sister. "Stop lying to me! I know you took it."

"I didn’t take you sweater, Elizabeth! You can search my room if you want."

"I will!"

Lizzie then stars going through Josie’s room like a tank, throwing shit left and right, rummaging through drawers, looking under the bed, practically trashing the whole room. The brunette just sits there and watches as her sister does that without saying anything, because she’s so tired of fighting with her. It’s better to let her do whatever she wants in her opinion.

When Lizzie doesn’t find the damn sweater, she groans in frustration and exits the room, slamming the door behind her on the way out. The room is an absolute mess and Lizzie probably won’t even bother to clean it up.

Josie will once again have to take care of it and deal with this shit that her twin is putting her through.

  
  


* * *

  
  


When Josie goes to visit her grandma at the senior citizens home, she is still in a bad mood because of Lizzie. The brunette managed to quickly clean up and organize her room after Lizzie kinda trashed it in search of the sweater and then when she went to the kitchen to grab a snack, she actually saw Lizzie wearing the damn thing. The blonde didn’t bother to apologize for anything. She absolutely didn’t care that she accused Josie of taking the sweater or for trashing her room, which made Josie feel like shit.

As Josie waits for her grandma to put all the chess pieces on the board, she continues replaying the fights she had with Lizzie from the past few days, and it makes her feel even worse. Lizzie didn’t use to be like this. She was a kind sister in the past, very loving and caring, always helping Josie with everything. They were inseperatble. Everything changed when their mother died. Lizzie just took it the hardest and changed, became cold, distant and selfish. It breaks Josie’s heart seeing her sister like that, but no matter what she has tried to get through to her sister and get her back to the way she was, it has never worked.

"What’s on your mind, my dear granddaughter?" the older woman asks with a concerned tone in her voice.

"I’m just thinking about Lizzie, grandma," Josie tells her, her expression sad. She keeps looking at the chess board and not into her grandma’s eyes, because she feels like if she does, she’ll cry.

"Are you still fighting?"

"Yeah," Josie mutters and moves one of the chess pieces. The brunette had told her grandma that her and Lizzie haven’t been getting along lately and that they’ve been fighting about stupid things, but she didn’t really give her that many details about what the arguments were about. Josie only lied to her and told her that they’ve been arguing on the phone a lot since the older woman believes that Lizzie is travelling the world.

"You’re sisters," Liz says to her granddaughter. "No matter what happens and how many fights you have, you’ll always love and forgive each other."

"I know, grandma. It just makes me sad and hurt," Josie confesses how badly she feels about the whole situation with Lizzie.

"Your sister can be difficult, you know that, Josie…" Liz places her hand on top of her granddaughter’s. "You have to be strong for both of you. It wasn’t easy for her after your mother passed away."

"It hasn’t been easy for me either." Josie feels a bit annoyed that her grandma is making it out as if Lizzie is the only one hurt by their mother’s passing and like she’s the only one having a difficult time, which is not true. Josie was also devastated when their mother died, but tried to be strong and pull through, knowing that life goes on and that she shouldn’t close herself off like her sister.

"I’m not saying that, Josie. It wasn’t easy on all of us." Liz tries to explain what she means a bit more clearly. "Lizzie’s  just more fragile  than you . It’s normal for her to have such a reaction."

"I know. You’re right. I’m just so frustrated with everything, grandma."

Liz squeezes her granddaughter’s hand in order to reassure her that everything will be okay. "You’ll get through this, Josie. I believe in you."

Josie smiles at the older woman, feeling a bit better after their talk. "Thank you."

"Now tell me what happened with the girl on the bus." Liz is absolutely dying to know all the details about Hope and Josie’s first meeting because her granddaughter had texted her last night to tell her that she finally talked to the auburn-haired girl, but would give her details when they see each other in person.

With a dopey grin on her face, Josie then makes a move on the chess board and says, "She’s just so beautiful, grandma. It felt so good to talk to her on the bus stop."

Josie then tells her grandma everything that she and Hope talked about and kept saying over and over again how beautiful she finds the other girl. Liz finds it really adorable. 

Liz then decides to give her granddaughter some dating advice. "You should bring her flowers, Josie! That’s how your grandfather won me over." 

"Grandma, that would be weird. People don’t normally do that with people they’ve just met," Josie explains with a chuckle. 

The older woman shakes her head when she hears the brunette’s words. "You young people don’t know anything about romance…"

The two then continue on talking and playing chess for the next hour and a half before Josie has to leave. She bids farewell to her grandma and tells her that she’ll see her tomorrow. Liz smiles at her granddaughter and wishes her luck with Hope because Josie told her that she’ll most likely see her on the bus.

The brunette then makes her way to her usual stop and waits for the vehicle to arrive. This time it does. The bus arrives at its usual time and Josie quickly hops on it and slumps down on her usual seat.  She rests her head on the window and feels her heart pounding against her chest.  She just can’t wait to  talk to Hope again.

A s the bus approaches the next stop,  the brunette knows that she’ll see  Hope really soon. Josie wonders if  the auburn-haired girl will greet her and maybe come sit with her or she’ll go to her usual seat. They’ve only talked once, but Josie really thinks that they made some sort of a connection and that maybe they could talk some more and not act like complete strangers when they run into each other on the bus. Still, she is a bit worried that Hope might just wave at her and then go to her usual seat at the front. Josie feels a bit sad at the thought because she wants to get to know the auburn-haired girl. She wants them to form some kind of meaningful connection, maybe be friends at first and then the relationship to develop into something more. She’s not sure whether Hope is into girls, but she is really hoping that she is.

When the bus arrives at Hope’s stop, Josie immediately notices the auburn-haired beauty get on. The girl turns around and looks at her as soon as she steps inside the vehicle. Her smile is mesmerizing and Josie feels as if she suddenly forgot how to breathe. 

Hope makes her way to Josie and sits next to her. "Hey," she tells her a bit awkwardly since this is the first time she’s actually sat next to her on the bus and because they didn’t talk  for  long last night at the bus stop and inside MG’s car.

"Hey, Hope," Josie greets her and smiles just as widely.  "How are you?"

"I’m  great . Today was a good day at  work because more people showed up than usual," Hope explains  feels good about herself because she’s glad that the business is picking up and she’ll be able to cover her rent without tapping into her savings this month.

"What do you do for a living?" Josie asks her curiously and wants to see if her hunch about Hope being some hot shot business woman is right.

"I’m an artist and I own a small gallery. It’s  great because I get to do something I love. "

Josie stares at the girl with wide eyes. She’s surprised and amazed that Hope is an artist,  because the thought had never really crossed her mind. At least she got the business woman part right  since Hope actually owns a gallery, so that’s something . 

"That sounds amazing. I’ve always wanted to paint, but I’ve never been any good at it. I admire you for having such talent and doing something that you love,"  Josie then tells her and Hope feels like she’s absolutely melting when she hears the brunette’s words. Josie being so sweet makes her blush hard and she turns her head around in an attempt  to hide it from the brunette.

"Thank you," Hope quietly says, the smile never leaving her face. She’s then about to say something else, but the bus arrives at her stop. "Oh, I have to get off now." 

"Right…" Josie pouts because she wants to continue talking with the other girl. "I’ll see you tomorrow then."

Josie doesn’t even realize that she’s said that, that she’s basically telling the other girl that she’s expecting to see her on the bus again tomorrow. She hopes that Hope doesn’t find it weird.

"See you tomorrow," Hope responds like it’s the most normal thing in the world and Josie immediately feels at ease. 

The auburn-haired girl then quickly makes her way out of the bus and Josie smiles before cutely  waving her hand.  T he bus drives off a few seconds later and Josie sighs before putting on her headphones and resting her head against the window as she waits for the vehicle to arrive at her destination. 

Both Hope and Josie are sad that they had to part ways, but at least they’ll get to see each other again on the next day, at the exact same time, on the exact same bus. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hosie's relationship is slowly progressing. <3 I really love them so much. Go Hosie! <3
> 
> Thank you all for reading and leaving comments. They really make my day! <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoyyy! <3

It turns into a routine for Hope and Josie to sit next to each other on the bus every day. They talk and get to know one another more before Hope has to get off first and then Josie a few stops later. Every time the auburn-haired girls steps out of the bus both girls smile and wave at each other. You could say that they’ve kind of become friends at this point.

It’s been going on like this for the past week and both girls definitely enjoy each other’s company. Meeting up on the bus is something that they look forward to the most every day. Whenever Hope goes to work, she thinks about Josie throughout the day and often gets lost in a daydream about her and the brunette. For Josie it’s not really that different. She still has trouble concentrating when doing her assignments for college because her mind often wanders to thoughts of the beautiful auburn-haired girl. When she goes to visit her grandma at the senior citizens home, the brunette can’t help but go on an on about Hope and what a wonderful person she thinks she is.

The two girls have learned quite a few things about each other despite the fact that their time together during the bus ride isn’t that long. Every day each of them share something either about their day or their lives overall. Josie has mentioned to Hope that she hasn’t been getting along well with her sister recently, while Hope shared that she hasn’t been spending that much time with her best friend because Penelope has been busy with some new fling of hers.

On a cold Wednesday evening Hope sees Josie lightly dressed even though it’s 10 degrees Celsius outside. It makes her just want to wrap her arms around the girl and keep her warm. It’s not that cold inside the bus, but it’s a different story when you’re not on it.

"I knew I should’ve brought my jacket," Josie complains and crosses her arms in front of her chest, pouting and annoyed at herself because she had left her jacket at home.

The weather seemed okay when the girl left her apartment to go visit her grandma, but when she got out of the senior citizens home, Josie got hit by that cold autumn wind that made her shiver.

Hope finds the girl’s pouty expression as the most adorable thing in the world. She then takes off her leather jacket and hands it to Josie.

"Here," Hope says and smiles at the girl, making a blush immediately appear on the brunette’s cheeks.

Josie is hesitant to take the jacket. "I can’t. You’ll be cold."

"Don’t worry. I have an extra jacket in my backpack. I usually carry it with me if the weather becomes unexpectedly colder."

With a smile on her face, the brunette takes the jacket from Hope’s hands and quickly puts it on. She enhales as the warmth engulfs her. It smells good, entoxicating even, and it makes Josie wonder if this is Hope’s usual scent.

"Thank you..."

"You’re welcome," Hope replies and admires how amazing her leather jacket looks on Josie, as if it was specifically made for her. "It looks good on you."

The compliment makes the brunette blush even more and immediately turn her head, trying to hide the very obvious redness on her cheeks and not make eye contact with Hope at all cost.

When they are near Hope’s stop, Josie immediately feels sad because she really wants to spend more time with the other girl. They’ve been meeting each other on the bus every day but these 20 minutes spent talking are not enough. Josie needs more. She wants to find out everything there is to know about this beautiful auburn-haired girl. But first, Josie really needs to muster up the courage within herself to ask Hope whether she wants to spend time with her outside the bus.

"I’ll give the jacket back to you tomorrow," Josie tells her as soon as they reach Hope’s stop.

The auburn-haired girl waves it off like it’s no big deal. "Don’t worry about it."

Hope then smiles at Josie and waves before heading off towards the door. As soon as the bus stops and the doors open, the girl gets off the vehicle.

* * *

  
  


When Josie gets back home that night, something feels off. The apartment is quiet, too quiet. It makes Josie feel uneasy. The brunette quickly takes off her shoes, but leaves Hope’s jacket on because she just really likes how it smells.

"Lizzie," Josie calls out, but nobody answers. She wonders why her sister isn’t at home. The blonde has been there with Sebastian almost every night for the past week despite Josie asking her to stop bringing him over.

Josie thinks that maybe Lizzie is just out with the guy or with someone else. She does have a social life after all, unlike the brunette who prefers to stay at home on her computer. Accepting that Lizzie is probably out partying or something, Josie decides to make herself some dinner so she quickly goes inside the kitchen to prepare something for herself. As soon as she walks inside, that’s when she sees it, a note left on the table.

Scrunching her eyebrows, Josie lifts up the thing and opens it to see it’s contents. It’s a note from Lizzie.

_Dearest sister,_

_I have decided to leave this shit hole of an apartment and move in with Sebastian. We have taken our relationship to the next level. I really believe that he might be the love of my life. The apartment is all yours, so you’ve finally got your wish._

_Love,_

_Lizzie_

  
  


Josie absolutely can’t believe that her twin sister actually moved out. Usually Lizzie threatens her that she would, but she never actually does. Lizzie can barely survive without Josie because she usually relies on her for everything, so having her move out comes as a complete shock to the brunette.

"I guess things really are serious with Sebastian," Josie says out loud and places the note back down on the table.

The brunette definitely feels sad. She knows that she shouldn’t feel like that, that she should be happy that there won’t be anyone to annoy her. Her and Lizzie really have been fighting quite a lot recently, but deep down Josie still loves her sister and kinda misses her. When they’re not fighting, sometimes they talk and the conversations can be nice and enjoyable. It’s not often, but Josie really values those moments with her sister. Despite everything, she cares deeply about Lizzie and now that she moved out, it breaks Josie’s heart. Lizzie didn’t actually tell her that she’s moving out and the brunette feels hurt by the fact that her sister would just leave some note in the middle of the kitchen like that.

A long sigh escapes Josie’s mouth. She suddenly lost her appetite. She gets out of the kitchen and heads straight for her room afterwards. She feels absolutely horrible because she’s alone and that her sister chose to move in with some guy she barely knows. The girl stays like that for a while, not moving at all, but then she just takes out her phone and decides to give Lizzie a call.

"Yeah?" she hears Lizzie say from the other line as soon as she picks up.

"Lizzie, what the hell? Why did you move out like that without giving me any sort of warning?" Josie’s voice shakes as she speaks to her sister and she feels tears starting to form in her eyes.

"It was kind of a spur of the moment decision. Sebastian suggested it this morning, so I packed my bags while you were out," Lizzie explains to her and Josie’s eyes widen because the situation is even worse. Her sister chose to move out on a whim, without really giving any thought to the whole decision. It’s so irresponsible in Josie’s opinion and she just can’t believe that her sister would do such a thing. All this time she thought that when the blonde was threatening to move out and not actually doing it that it was because she knew deep down how much she actually relied on Josie to take care of her, but it wasn’t the case at all.

"I see..." Josie’s voice cracks as she speaks.

"This is what you wanted, isn’t it? Now you get to have your peace and quiet by being alone in the apartment."

"Yes, it’s what I wanted." It is in fact what the brunette was craving for, but still, she’s so used to having her sister around and running errands for her, taking care of her, that now she doesn’t really know how to fully process this. Josie is so used to living by a routine that now that she has to change it, it’s difficult. She has no choice, though. Lizzie moved out and Josie just has to deal with it.

"Good then." Lizzie happily exclaims. "If I need anything, I’ll call you."

Lizzie then suddenly hangs up the phone before Josie can say anything. The brunette rolls her eyes at her sister’s selfish behavior.

"What if I’m the one that needs something?" Josie says out loud and then carelessly puts her phone down on the desk. She’s frustrated with Lizzie and the way she treats her. "I wish things were like they used to be…" The brunette continues talking to herself and then slumps down on the bed. She stares up at the ceiling and finds herself thinking of her mom. Things were so much easier when she was alive. Lizzie was a wonderful sister and the three of them took care of each other. Their mother was what held them all together, the string that connected them. They all helped each other and everything was perfect.

Josie feels the tears start falling down and she closes her eyes. "I miss you, mom. You always knew how to fix everything, how to deal with us when we were fighting and how to make everything better."

Josie hasn’t felt so miserable in such a long time. When she woke up that morning she thought that it would be an amazing day. Josie loved the fact that Hope gave her her jacket so she wouldn’t be cold. She also had a lot of fun with her grandma at the senior citizens home. Everything was going great, but now, after seeing her sister’s note and realizing the fact that Lizzie had actually moved out for real this time, made the whole day terrible.

  
  


* * *

  
  


When Hope goes back to her apartment, she feels so happy, just like she has been every day since she started talking to Josie. Somehow conversations with the brunette just make her feel nice and instantly brighten up her mood. It’s been a long time since Hope has felt so good. The only problems she now faces are money related. Business at the gallery has been a bit slow the past couple of days again, which makes Hope a bit scared that she’ll have to tap into her savings in order to pay her rent. She thinks that maybe she should organize another event or consult with the other gallery owners these days so they could give her some advice.

Hope quickly whips up something for dinner and then afterwards decides to paint. She has been painting a lot more since she began talking to Josie. Hope is inspired by her and just can’t help but incorporate those feelings into her art. So she paints that night and it’s beautiful, the vibrant colors that she uses, the emotions that she puts into the work, it’s all so gorgeous. This will be yet another painting that she’ll put up inside her gallery.

Before Hope knows it, it’s late and she definitely should head to bed soon. The girl wonders what Josie is doing, whether she is sleeping soundly at that moment or she’s writing something for college. The brunette did tell her that she has a lot of assignments to finish. Josie talks a lot about her studies when they’re on the bus, which Hope finds absolutely adorable because the brunette explains everything with such passion. It’s mesmerizing and Hope can’t stop listening to her. It’s kinda the same way as how Hope talks about her art. It feels so nice for both of them, having someone to speak to about the things that you love. Hope and Josie are definitely glad that they could talk about things like that to each other.

Hope quickly falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow, her last thoughts of beautiful brown hair and a pretty smile. She even dreams about her throughout the night. Hope dreams about how she and Josie are on the bus as usual and are having a wonderful conversation. It doesn’t take long before the dream turns into something so much more because the brunette smiles and suddenly leans closer to Hope, her face inches away from hers. The auburn-haired girl feels nervous because of how close Josie is and she wants nothing more than to just lean in and kiss her. Before she can do that, the brunette beats her to it. She crashes her lips against Hope’s, making her close her eyes and just melt into her. Josie places her hand on Hope’s thigh and gently glides it up, her hand now dangerously close to a certain area that the auburn-haired girl desperately wants to be touched.

Hope feels hot as she sleeps and moves around in her bed, the sweat dripping down her body. Her dream continues and she sees Josie move her hand under her shirt and gently caress the bare skin with her fingertips, making Hope’s whole body shiver.

"I want you," Hope hears Josie say in her dream as she looks at her with a devilish smirk on her face. She can tell by her expression how desperate she is.

Josie then slips her hand inside the girl’s jeans, making Hope gasp when she feels the girl’s fingers down there, touching her most intimate area.

"Fuck," Hope swears in her dream while Josie just continues smirking. She doesn’t stop touching her, which drives the other girl absolutely insane.

"I love how wet you are, baby…" Josie whispers and starts placing short kisses along the girl’s jaw, slowly moving her mouth down to her neck. Hope gasps because of how overwhelming everything is, how pleasurable to have Josie be this close to her, to touch her in such an intimate way.

"Oh my god, Josie…"

The whole scene then switches and they’re inside Hope’s gallery. Josie has her pinned against the wall near the painting that the girl made of her. Hope wraps her legs around Josie’s waist as the brunette’s hands are on her breasts, massaging them and sending Hope over the edge.

"You have no idea how hot you look right now, Hope," Josie tells her, her voice sounding so low and seductive.

Hope continues stirring in her sleep and letting out soft moans. She even managed to kick the sheets off the bed. A minute later, her eyes suddenly flutter open and the auburn-haired girl sits up. She’s drenched in sweat and feeling so incredibly turned on.

"Fuck, that was hot…" Hope mutters under her breath. She hasn’t felt this horny in a while and feels frustrated that everything was just a dream. Oh how badly the girl wants Josie to touch her for real.

Hope slips her hand between her legs and feels just how wet she actually is. She closes her eyes and immediately starts thinking about what was like in her dream to have Josie touch her like that.

She can clearly remember everything that happened and how hot Josie made her. She wants her so badly and it definitely doesn’t take long before Hope finds herself having the most incredible orgasm, all while thinking about the gorgeous brunette.

* * *

  
  


Hope feels horny when she sits next to Josie inside the bus on the next day. She tries as much as she can not to look at the other girl because if she does, she feels as if Josie would instantly know what she’s thinking, as if she will be able to read her thoughts or something.

"MG and I implemented this really cool functionality and I’m really proud of us," Josie tells her and Hope just feels like every word that comes out of the brunette’s mouth is so damn hot. She feels like such a creep thinking about her that way, but she just can’t help it.

Josie talks and talks about this project that she’s doing for college but Hope doesn’t really hear anything. She’s way too distracted because of the way Josie moves her hands when she speaks and how sexy her voice sounds. Hope finds herself glancing at the brunette’s fingers and her mind instantly goes back to her dream when she was able to feel them touching her. She wonders if it would feel just as good if it happens for real.

"Hope, we’re almost at your stop," Josie informs the other girl because she notices that she seems distracted.

"Mmmm," Hope just hums at the last thing Josie tells her. She doesn’t hear what it is but she also doesn’t care.

When the bus stops, Hope doesn’t move a muscle. She’s just sitting there on the seat next to Josie, but her mind is elsewhere, thinking about all the dirty things she wants Josie to do to her or that she can do to the brunette.

"Hope, it’s your stop. You need to get up or else you’ll miss it." Josie warns her once again. When Hope doesn’t move, the brunette shakes her body. "What’s wrong? Are you okay?"

Hope finally snaps out of her trance when she feels Josie’s hand on her shoulder. "Oh, shit…"

Hope misses her stop.

"I guess you’ll have to get off on the next one," Josie tells her and giggles. She wonders what has Hope feeling so distracted but she doesn’t ask her. She finds it really cute, though.

  
  


* * *

  
  


It takes Josie a few days to get used to the fact that her sister doesn’t live with her anymore. It was definitely hard at first because she would kind of forget and end up calling Lizzie to ask her what she should get for dinner or things like that. Apparently her twin really likes living with Sebastian at his large and super expensive loft. Of course, Lizzie doesn’t forget to post all about it on all her social media accounts along with pictures and videos. Josie may have kinda stalked the blonde and rolled her eyes at the thousands of comments and likes on the posts. Lizzie also called her a couple of times to brag about Sebastian’s amazing hot tub.

MG has been there for Josie throughout all of this and even stayed at her place the first few nights. They played some video games and geeked out while watching programming videos on YouTube, which definitely took Josie’s mind off things for a while.

Hope has also been incredibly supportive, always listening to Josie during their conversations on the bus. The brunette shared with her that Lizzie had moved out and had confided in her about some of their fights. Hope is a good listener which makes Josie like the girl even more.

Hope and Josie’s relationship is growing stronger every day. They feel more comfortable sharing things with each other now and the awkwardness that was there at the beginning when they started talking is now gone.

The two girls are currently sitting at Starbucks. They decided to get something to drink instead of going home because both of them didn’t really want to be alone that night. So they went to Starbucks at 8:30 PM on Saturday evening.

"It’s so funny how the barista misspelled your name." Hope puts her hand in front of her mouth and laughs. "Jose…"

Josie pouts and takes a sip from her drink. "It’s not that funny," she quietly says, but Hope doesn’t stop laughing.

"Jose, Jose, Jose…"

Josie whines and look at Hope with a pleading expression on her face that makes her seem like a cute little puppy. "Hope, please…"

The auburn-haired girl finds her absolutely adorable. Add those pouty lips to the mix and she can practically get Hope to do anything she wants. She’s just so damn weak for her.

"Alright, I’ll stop," Hope tells her which makes Josie immediately smile in satisfaction. "But only because you’re so cute."

The brunette immediately blushes when she hears the compliment and looks away shyly which Hope finds to be even more adorable.

"You know, they misspell people’s names on purpose..." Josie doesn’t say anything about Hope calling her cute. "It’s part of their marketing strategy. They do it so people would post pictures of the misspelled names on social media and tag Starbucks. They gain more popularity that way."

"Interesting. I didn’t know that." Hope is impressed that the other girl knows this stuff. She had never really bothered to check the real reason why Starbucks misspells people’s names because she had always believed it was due to the baristas not hearing them correctly or something. Never in a million years did she think they do it on purpose.

"I had to do a project for one of my classes. That’s why I know this stuff," Josie continues speaking. "It was actually pretty fun to do."

Hope admires the other girl for being so passionate about her studies. "That’s really amazing, Josie."

The two girls continue having fun talking with each other for the next 30 minutes before something has to ruin the wonderful time that they’re having of course. Things can never be perfect.

Hope feels all color drain from her face when she notices who walks inside Starbucks. It’s her ex-boyfriend Landon with an auburn-haired bimbo clinging to his side.

"Hope, are you okay?" Josie asks her friend, concerned and maybe slightly worried that she might’ve said something wrong. She tends to talk a lot once she gets close to someone and feels comfortable with them.

Hope doesn’t answer, instead she just continues staring at Landon who makes his way to the counter along with the slut so they could get something to drink. Hope is a hundred percent sure that he saw her but of course, there’s no way he’s going to come up and talk to her. Landon made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t want them to be friends when Hope offered. What a small world to bump into him and his new skank who, strangely enough, for some reason, looks so much like Hope.

"It’s uh…" Hope pauses and takes a deep breath. "It’s my ex-boyfriend. He just walked in here and is ordering."

Josie immediately turns around. "Is it that curly guy?"

Hope nods. "He’s pretending that he doesn’t know me. I’m sure that he saw me."

"Why did you guys break up?" Josie boldly asks, hoping the other girl doesn’t find it insensitive. Thankfully, Hope doesn’t even think about it and answers Josie’s question.

"Things just weren’t working out because my feelings for him changed. I offered to stay friends, but he didn’t want to and now he’s pretending that he doesn’t know me," Hope explains to the girl, leaving out a lot of details. She doesn’t really want to talk about her ex-boyfriend’s gambling problems at that moment.

"Well, it appears that he isn’t really over you. That girl with him looks a lot like you," Josie points out and Hope definitely agrees with her. "It’s kinda creepy if you ask me."

Josie feels jealous of that curly-haired guy because of the fact that he’s dated Hope, that they had probably gone out on cute dates. She wants to do that with her as well. She wants to bring her flowers and dance with her, kiss her like there’s no tomorrow. You know, all that cheesy stuff. Josie knows that it won’t happen soon, if it ever ends up happening that is. She barely even knows the girl. Them hanging out at Starbucks is the first step. Josie doesn’t know where she found the courage to ask the girl, but she’s glad that she did it. She was brave and she’s proud of herself for that.

Hope stares at Landon with his slut and thinks that he probably met this girl at one of the casinos that he frequently visits. There’s also the possibility that she’s a hooker. Her skirt is definitely way too short in Hope’s opinion.

"Can we maybe get out of here?" Hope asks about a minute later when she sees them get their drinks and sit down at a table. Her voice sounds desperate and pleading. She doesn’t really want to stay and look at Landon and his skank. It makes her feel disgusted.

Josie immediately agrees and the two girls then quickly put on their jackets, grab their cups, and make their way out of Starbucks. Josie is actually still wearing Hope’s jacket. She was supposed to give it back days ago, but Hope insisted that the girl should keep it, saying that it looks a lot better on her. Josie was reluctant at first, but then decided not to argue with Hope and plus, she actually really likes the jacket. It makes her feel like Hope is with her every time she puts it on.

They end up walking around the streets of the city, getting far far away from Starbucks and Hope’s ex-boyfriend with each step they take. The weather is a bit chilly, but also really nice. Both girls really enjoy it, but most of all, they take pleasure in each other’s company.

Hope and Josie just seem to gravitate towards each other. They want to spend every waking moment together. Both of them haven’t felt so connected to anyone in their lives ever. It feels nice.

"My sister keeps posting selfies of her and Sebastian inside his super expensive bath tub," Josie tells Hope when she gets a notification on her phone that Lizzie has made a new post on Instagram. "Look. I feel like throwing up."

"Oh god," Hope says when she sees the picture. It’s like a scene before a porn movie or something. "I don’t really understand how people can post such things online. I rarely post anything, so I’m not an expert, but that just seems wrong."

"I know right. I’m the same way! I rarely post too." Josie completely agrees with the auburn-haired girl. "My sister is instafamous or whatever you would call it, an influencer."

"I guess if it makes her happy then there’s nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah, true. It’s just a lot. I don’t know how she doesn’t get overwhelmed by all the attention."

That’s something which Josie has always wondered. She has never enjoyed being in the spotlight unlike Lizzie who lives and breathes being the center of attention. Josie has always found it weird.

"I don’t know. Some people are like that, I guess."

"Oh, by the way…" Josie suddenly says as if remembering something. "Can I get your phone number?"

Hope smiles as soon as she hears Josie’s question. "Definitely. I was gonna ask you as well, but you beat me to it."

Hope then starts telling her the digits and once she’s done, Josie saves it in her contacts. The brunette then calls her so Hope can save her number as well.

"We’ve just been talking a lot lately and I was hoping we could do it outside the bus as well, and it would be easier when I have your phone number. We can make plans or whatever and like text, maybe, yeah-"

Hope interrupts her. "Josie, you’re rambling."

Josie feels a bit embarrassed about that and quickly apologizes and explains herself. "Sorry. I’ve just never done this before. I mean, I haven’t taken anyone’s phone number like this."

"It’s okay. This is new to me as well. I’m not really the best at socializing." Hope playfully bumps her shoulder with Josie’s and throws her one of her signature smiles.

"Me too. It’s easy to talk to you, though."

Hope is glad that Josie feels that way. "I’m happy to hear that. I enjoy talking to you too."

The two girls walk around the streets for the next hour before it gets late and Josie decides to call MG to come pick them up. The boy agrees of course. He’s always there when Josie needs him.

MG drops Hope off first and after they bid each other goodbye, he drives to Josie’s place. He decides to stay over so they could hang out and so Josie could tell him absolutely everything that happened when she was with Hope that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope giving Josie her jacket is everything. Lizzie moving out and living with Sebastian, damn... Hope having a kind of sex dream about Josie.... oh boy... Lots of stuff happened this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it. Stay tuned to see how Hope and Josie's relationship will progress after this. <3
> 
> Thank you all for the wonderful comments that you leave on the story, all the kudos and bookmarks. It means a lot. ^-^


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Hope absolutely cannot stop thinking about Josie Saltzman. She’s been rearranging the paintings inside her gallery for god knows how long since she came to work that morning. The girl lost track of time because a certain brunette with her cute smile and mesmerizing eyes just wouldn’t get out of her head. Hope was fucked. Yep, definitely 100% fucked. Her major crush on her friend has been a huge distraction and has influenced her life so much. She’s constantly wondering what the girl is doing, she is barely working or eating, because her thoughts are always consumed by Josie Saltzman. Now that she has her phone number, they’ve been texting. Well, kind of, not as much as Hope wishes  that they would . The auburn-haired girl doesn’t want to be one of those clingy people that want to text someone 24/7. She’s trying not to appear desperate for her attention, so she tries to stop herself from being an annoying clingy texter. So far it‘s  been  working, but it‘s driving Hope crazy. 

A long sigh escapes the auburn-haired girl‘s mouth as she takes down the painting she made of Josie. She is a bit worried that  now that they’re friends, someday the brunette might come to the gallery and see it which would be very embarrassing for Hope. She believes it‘s better to keep it somewhere safe instead.

As Hope stares at the painting in her hands, her eyes take in Josie‘s beautiful facial features. She adores everything about the brunette, from the way she talks when she gets excited to the expressions she makes when she feels a range of different emotions. Their time spent on the bus and hanging out afterwards have been so amazing that Hope feels like she’s falling deep for the beautiful  girl . She’s a little bit scared of these feelings that she’s having for  Josie because she’s never experienced anything like this before, not to this extent  at least . It’s wonderful and yet at the same time makes her feel like she wants to run away and hide. 

After what feels like hours of staring at the artwork, even though it’s actually 5 minutes, Hope takes the painting to the storage room. It’s a mess in there and  she wonders when she would finally find the motivation to organize it. There are so many paintings in there that she has created but there’s no room for them inside the showroom. People can only view them on the gallery’s website and make an order if something peaks their interest. Hope opens up a drawer where she keeps some of her most special paintings, ones that she has created when she has felt really emotional and express ed her most deepest personal feelings. There are some there related to her family and others depicting  some traumatic experiences at certain points in her life, specifically when she was dating Landon and had to deal with his gambling problems. It’s the perfect place to store the painting that she created of Josie. In Hope’s opinion, it needs to be hidden away where nobody but her could find it. 

Once Hope is done hiding the painting, she takes out her phone to see if Josie had texted her, but she hasn’t, which makes Hope a bit sad. She thinks that the brunette is probably busy with her assignments for college or something. Josie did tell her the night before that she has strict deadlines that she needs to meet for all her projects. Hope opens up their chat and scrolls through the messages that they’ve sent each other. She smiles as she rereads them. They haven’t texted that much but it was enough to make Hope’s heart flutter. Her happy moment didn’t last for long, though, because she was soon brought out of her little daydream fantasy by the voice of the last person she wants to talk to at that moment – Roman Sienna.

"You seem awfully happy, Hopey," the handsome boy tells her with a smirk on his face as soon as he walks inside the small gallery and his eyes catch sight of Hope. "A new boyfriend, maybe?"

Hope rolls her eyes and quickly puts her phone away. "Why do people always assume that? I might’ve seen a funny picture or something."

"So you were smiling because of a funny picture that you’re new boyfriend sent you?" Roman continues teasing her, making Hope groan in annoyance. She really dislikes this guy’s attitude.

"I don’t have a new boyfriend."

Roman’s smirk becomes even  sleazier . "That’s what I wanted to hear. Glad to know you’re still on the market,  love ."

The boy then sits next to Hope, very close to her, enough to make her feel really uncomfortable. On top of it all, he even puts his hand on her thigh.

"This market is closed for you, Roman," Hope quickly rejects him and slaps his hand away before moving away from him. 

"You’re really gonna make me work hard for this, aren’t you?" Roman’s voice is flirty and it sounds disgusting to Hope. "I like a challenge."

"No, Roman. How many times do I have to tell you that _this_ ," she says and points with her index finger at herself and then Roman, "is _never_ happening..."

"Never say never, baby!" Roman laughs, feeling good about himself when he plays with the girl. 

"You’re impossible. Why are you even here?" Hope asks in frustration. She wants to know why he even came to her gallery in the first place and to figure out how to get rid of him faster.

"Can’t I just come see you?"

Hope raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms in front of her chest. "No, you always want something. What is it?"

Roman smirks once again because the way Hope is acting makes him want her even more. He absolutely loves it when women play hard to get. 

"Have sex with me," Roman tells her without even an ounce of shame. 

Hope’s eyes widen as soon as she hears the boy’s words. No way in hell is she going to have sex with him. "Are you serious right now?" she immediately asks, shocked that he would even suggest such a thing  to her .

The moment he hears her question and sees her facial expression, the boy bursts out laughing. "I’m joking. I want to, badly, but I came here for a different reason. I need a favor."

Hope rolls her eyes, far from amused by his behavior. "Make it quick." 

She really misses when the boy’s father used to run their family’s gallery. She really doesn’t want to do this sleazebag asshole any favors, but she can’t afford to ruin any relationships she has built throughout the years with their business and with any of the other fellow gallery owners. If her and Roman are on bad terms, this could impact the others as well, because they might stop doing business with her and side with the Sienna family’s business instead. Linda especially. Hope suspects that the older woman and Roman have had casual sex a few times.

"You’ve done business with Mr. Silvertone for many years now, right?" Roman asks her to which Hope immediately nods. Ah, good old Mr. Silvertone with his 65 years of age and a lot of experience in creating art. They’ve been doing business for a long time and Hope has sold so many of his paintings. People absolutely love them because the man is an amazing artist. He’s also one of her father’s closest friends.

"Why?" 

"I need him to be a guest at my next event," Roman tells her and throws her one of his signature charming smiles that has most girls absolutely melt. "Can you talk to him for me?"

Hope sighs.  " Fine , anything to get you off my back,"  she then tells him, making the smile on the boy’s face even wider. 

"Yes! You’re the best! You’re totally saving my ass here, Hopey!" he happily exclaims and moves closer to her before attempting to hug her, but Hope pushes him away.

"I’ll do this only if you stop constantly flirting with me. I’m not interested in you, Roman."

The boy then backs away. "You might not be interested now, but you will be eventually. Nobody can resist me."

"No, I will never be interested in you."

"Whatever you say, love." Roman starts laughing once again and then moves towards the exit of the gallery. "Thanks for the favor. I’ll see you around."

Hope feels relieved once the boy leaves her gallery. He’s so infuriating in her opinion, even more than Landon when they were dating. Hope tells herself that she’s doing this for the good of her business, so she will endure it, whatever it takes.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"Grandma, what about Frank? Look how sweet he is to you, always bringing you chocolates," Josie tells her grandma while they’re taking a walk around the senior citizens home. She’s trying to set her up with one of the old men there so she wouldn’t be lonely and maybe experience what it’s like to fall in love again. 

"He’s sweet, but he’s not really the type of man I would be interested in. He doesn’t bring me flowers like your grandfather used to," the older woman tells her granddaughter. 

"Is that your criteria? If he doesn’t bring you flowers then he’s not for you?"

"Of course!" Liz is so sure of her answer. To her a man has to always bring a woman flowers. It’s tradition when they are courting her and Frank most definitely doesn’t follow it. He has never brought her flowers, only chocolates and other things to eat. 

"You’re so weird, grandma."

"This is why you should bring Hope flowers! Otherwise she will not give you her heart!" Liz says with determination in her voice, making Josie laugh.

"Alright, grandma. I’ll do that," Josie agrees with the older woman because she doesn’t see any point in arguing with her. She wants to keep her grandma happy and if she has to tell her that she’ll do as she suggests, then she will. 

"So tell me more about your date with Hope!" Liz excitedly says to the brunette. She wants to know everything about how their relationship is progressing. It’s the most interesting part of her day, when Josie comes to visit and tells her about what she’s been up to, especially when she talks about Hope. Liz feels like she’s watching a soap opera and gets a new episode every day when her granddaughter visits.

Josie immediately lights up when she hears her grandma’s words. She absolutely loves talking about Hope. "We went to Starbucks to get something to drink and it was so cute."

"Lovely," Liz says with adoration. She’s so happy that her granddaughter has found someone that she likes.

"Yes, until her ex-boyfriend showed up with some girl," Josie continues explaining, making Liz gasp when she hears the part about Landon. "It honestly made me so jealous. We quickly got out of there after that, though, thank god."

Josie was about to continue with the story when suddenly they hear an old man yelling from somewhere behind them, causing a ruckus. The two quickly make their way to  where  the commotion  is coming from  and  soon enough,  they see Frank, the guy Josie wants to set up her grandma with, fighting with another old man. 

"Liz is mine! I saw her first, so stay away from her, George," Frank yells and pushes the other guy roughly. Apparently they are fighting for Liz’s heart. 

"I can be a better lover than you, Frank, you old coot," George fires back, making Frank even angrier. 

Josie looks at her grandma and sees her blushing. The brunette wonders if the older woman is actually enjoying two men fighting for her heart. Thankfully for her, the fight is soon broken up by one of the employees at the senior citizens home.

When Frank and George are sent to their rooms as punishment and everyone else scurries off, Josie and her grandma are left alone. The older woman looks at her granddaughter and smiles widely before saying, "Did you hear that, Josie? Frank said that I’m his! What a man!"

Josie shakes her head and smiles at how old-fashioned the woman is about these things. She thinks that her grandma’s beliefs are weird, but she loves her nonetheless.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hope is still in such a bad mood when she gets on the bus. It’s all because of Roman and his stupid smug face and cocky attitude. She quietly sits next to Josie and just says a simple "Hey…" to her,  rather quietly, making the brunette a bit worried because Hope sounds different than usual, not cheerful at all. 

"Hey, Hope," Josie replies as she turns her head to look at the girl worriedly. Hope isn’t looking back at her at all, which makes Josie feel as if she did something wrong. "What’s going on?"

Josie decides to just straight up ask. It’s better than sitting awkwardly during the bus ride with Hope and having her sulk and barely talk ing .

"I’m not really in the mood," Hope tells her honestly. "I had a bad day at the gallery."

"What happened?"

"I don’t really want to talk about it, if that’s okay..." Hope is still not looking at Josie as she says that. "Do you maybe want hang out again tonight? I need to get my mind off things."

"Of course…" Josie agrees immediately because she wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to spend more time with the girl she is hopelessly crushing on. She feels a bit sad that Hope doesn’t want to share with her what’s going on, but she doesn’t want to push the girl. Whenever she’s ready, she’ll hopefully decide to talk about it.

That’s how Hope and Josie end up buying burgers at some fast food joint after they get off the bus.  It’s about 10 minutes away from Hope’s apartment and it’s one of Hope’s favorite places to buy junk food from. 

"Ugh, so good," Hope says as soon as she takes a bite of her cheeseburger and moans softly because of the food. She absolutely loves it and it greatly improves her mood after that moment. Sometimes a burger is all you need to feel better. 

"Yes, this is probably the best burger I’ve tasted in a while," Josie cheerfully says and looks happily at the veggie burger she’s holding in her hands. 

Hope nods her head in agreement and smiles at Josie.  "Yeah, Mike’s is the best place for fast food in my opinion.  It’s small and the products they use are always fresh. Plus, the food is not overpriced like at KFC or McDonald's and the owner Mike is a really cool guy. He sometimes even gives me extra fries when I order. " 

"Wow, I guess you’ve been going there for a long time," Josie comments because Hope gives her the impression that she very frequently visits the fast food joint they were just at. 

"Yes, ever since I moved into my apartment a few years ago."

"That’s nice. Mike’s must be special then."

It is special to Hope, very much so, and she is very happy that she gets to share the food from there with Josie. "Yes. It definitely is."

After finishing their food, the two girls decide to take a walk because they don’t want to head back home just yet. The weather that night is better than it was the last time they were out, which makes everything that much better.

"So this guy came by the gallery today. We’re sort of in the same field. He recently inherited a gallery from his late father and he can be such a pain in the ass," Hope suddenly says as the two girls are walking, finally deciding to tell Josie why she was in a bad mood. 

Josie’s heart immediately sinks when she hears this and feels the jealousy rearing its ugly head. She starts thinking that maybe  Hope and this guy have some sort of history or something, that maybe  she has a crush on him despite the fact that she finds him to be a pain in the ass as she puts it. Josie immediately jumps to conclusions before Hope has said anything more about the boy.

"Oh…" Josie just says, trying hard not to show that she’s very very jealous at that moment, but it’s difficult because the frown on her face and her clenched fists kinda give it away. Thankfully, Hope doesn’t look at her when she speaks and just stares straight ahead as they walk, so she doesn’t notice. 

"He uhh… always flirts with me and doesn’t seem to get the hint when I tell him that I’m not interested," Hope continues and Josie immediately relaxes when she hears her words. She’s glad that the girl is not interested in him in any way. "But he’s being so inconsiderate and doesn’t take no for an answer. It’s infurating. He annoys me to no end, but I can’t be on bad terms with him because it would be bad for my business."

"That’s horrible, Hope…" Josie feels so bad that the girl has to deal with a jerk like that. She wants nothing more than to hug her right at that moment, but she stops herself because their relationship is not really at that stage yet and she feels awkward to do it, so she just puts her hand on the other girl’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

W hen Josie does that it immediately makes Hope feel so much better. She  is so comfortable around Josie, like she could tell her absolutely anything. Hope turns around and smiles at the girl, a smile which Josie returns.

"Thank you for listening to me," Hope then tells the brunette, making Josie’s heart flutter. She’s so happy that she could be there for Hope and listen to her problems.

"You can tell me anything, Hope. I’ll always be here to listen."

After that the two girls change the subject and continue walking and chatting. It’s nice and light. Their shoulders brush against each other as they walk and their hands are so close, that if one of them moves just slightly, they would touch. Both of them want to hold hands so badly, but neither makes a move to do it. 

Soon after both of them notice that they have a little companion on their walk, a cute stray dog that decided to follow them. 

"Hey there little guy!" Hope stops walking and bents down to pet the doggy. He’s wagging his tail at her, which Hope knows means that it’s a sign that the dog is happy and he likes her. 

Josie smiles at the sight before her because it’s so goddamn adorable. She sees Hope petting the cute dog and swears that it’s one of the loveliest things that she’s  ever witnessed in her life.  The dog then starts licking Hope’s face, making the girl laugh.  The sound is  like music to Josie’s ears.  The brunette then d ecides to ben d down and pet the dog as well. She absolutely loves animals,  especially dogs  because they are her absolute favorite. 

B oth girls are really enjoying their new little friend. They just can’t stop smiling and laughing.  The dog continues wagging its tail, letting out cute little whines, indicating that it’s feeling satisfied because of the attention that it’s getting from the girls. 

They get up a few minutes after and start walking again with the dog following behind.  They’re both silent, but it’s not awkward or anything, and they’re enjoying it. It doesn’t take long, though, before Hope decides to speak.

"I recently bought a new squeaky toy for Pongo by the way," she tells Josie, making the brunette squeal in excitement.

"You did?! Oh my god! That’s so cute!"

Hope chuckles at the girl’s reaction. "Yes,  he loves it. Pongo is just  the light of my life."

"That’s really adorable!" Josie can’t help but smile even wider when she hears Hope talking about her dog.

"Do you want to meet him?" Hope suddenly asks, surprising Josie with her question. 

The brunette feels a surge of happiness and excitement rush through her and she immediately yells out a "Yes!" 

Hope has talked to Josie about Pongo during a few bus rides and has showed the girl pictures of the dog, so Josie absolutely would love to meet him.

"My place is a few minutes away. We can go there now, if you don’t have to go home soon of course," Hope suggests.

"There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing right now." 

Josie feels as if she will literally have a heart attack because she’s going to her crush’s apartment and she’ll get to meet Hope’s cute dog.

"Let’s go then."

  
  


* * *

  
  


After about 10 minutes of walking, the two girls make it to Hope’s place. The stray dog didn’t follow them there. It kind  of went its own way a few minutes before they reached the apartment building. It made both girls a bit sad, but they just left it be. 

"Come on," Hope says to Josie and leads her to the elevator, so they can get up to the 5th floor where Hope’s apartment is. The auburn-haired girl hits the button and both of them then wait for the elevator to arrive.

Josie feels so excited and her heart is beating rapidly against her chest. She’s about to get on an elevator with Hope Mikaelson and go to her apartment. It’s like a dream come true for the brunette. 

As soon as the elevator arrives and the girls get  inside , Hope quickly hits the button with the number 5 next to it and sighs when the doors slowly close. She feels a bit nervous because the thought of bringing her crush to her place is a bit terrifying, but she’s also very excited. She wants Josie to meet Pongo and she wants to become closer to the brunette, so she is willing to take this step.

Both girls hear the beep sound that the elevator makes a few seconds later, indicating that they have arrived on the 5 th floor. They both smile at each other and step out of the elevator afterwards. Hope has her keys in her jacket’s pocket and is about to take them out, but she immediately stops in her tracks when she sees her best friend Penelope Park in front of her apartment’s door. She’s curled up on the floor, hugging her knees and crying. 

"Penelope!" Hope worriedly yells out and runs to her best friend’s side, going into protective mode and having the urge to immediately comfort her.

Josie stands behind Hope and feels very sympathetic. Hope has mentioned Penelope a couple of times during their conversations on the bus and Josie knows how deeply the auburn-haired girl cares about her best friend. Witnessing the girl in this state right now makes her heart break. It reminds her of the many times she’s seen her twin sister having a breakdown, so she understands how Hope feels perfectly.

"Hope, I need you," Penelope tells her best friend through choking tears. 

"I’m here, Pen." 

Hope quickly unlocks her door and takes Penelope inside with Josie following behind. Pongo shows up whining and growling, like he knows that something is wrong. Hope is holding onto Penelope as she leads her best friend to the couch and helps her settle there.

"She’s here, Hope…" Penelope’s voice shakes as she speaks and the auburn-haired girl stiffens the moment she hears her best friend’s words. "My mother."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo Roman is an ass... :D Liz and Frank might get in on at the senior citizens home... the grandma needs some love. :D Hosie are getting closerrrrr andddd my heart melts when they play with doggosss... <3 Poor Penelope btw... Stay tuned to find out what the deal is with her mother. :D 
> 
> Thank you all for the wonderful comments, the many kudos and that you guys are following this story! <3 It means a lot! <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Sorry for the late update. I've been going through some shit for the past 2 weeks and haven't had much time to write. 
> 
> Hope you'll enjoy this chapter! <3

Hope feels heartbroken because of the state that her best friend is in. She has never met Penelope’s mother, but she has heard stories about that devil woman. Her best friend had told her in the past that she had a pretty rough childhood, that her mother was an alcoholic and that she was abusive towards her. It made Hope feel so sorry for the girl because of what she had been through.

"Why is your mother here?" Hope asks Penelope immediately, the panic evident in her voice.

"She just showed up out of the blue," Penelope tells her with a shaky voice, her hands trembling as she sits there on the couch. "That bitch claims that she’s sober now and wants to be in my life. After all this time. I don’t want her here, Hope. I hate her so much."

Josie feels so sorry for the girl even though she doesn’t know her. Hearing the way she talks about her mother is so heartbreaking. She starts thinking about her alcoholic father who she hasn’t spoken to in years and what it would be like if he suddenly shows up and demands redemption or something. Josie understands Penelope so well and what a hard life the girl had with an alcoholic mother like that.

"Shh…" Hope tries to calm her best friend down. "Everything’s going to be fine, okay? Try to relax." She rubs Penelope’s back softly with her hand in an attempt to comfort her.

Josie wants to say something. She wants to tell her that she understands and help Hope comfort her best friend, but she stays silent. Being the awkward and very shy quiet person that she is, the brunette doesn’t utter a single word. Plus, she doesn’t really know Penelope, so she would feel so weird just mentioning that her father is an alcoholic to a complete stranger. She hasn’t really told Hope about it either.

Penelope buries her face in her hands and groans loudly. "Ugh, I’m such a mess right now." She ends up pulling her hair afterwards, feeling extremely frustrated because of the situation with her mother. "I’m sorry," she ends up apologizing. "I totally ruined your date with my shit."

Both Hope and Josie blush madly as soon as they hear the girl’s words, and can’t seem to look at each other at all, scared to see their reactions. But neither of them corrects Penelope. It makes them think about whether this was in fact an actual date. They both really want it to be one.

After what feels like forever, Hope finally decides to speak. "Pen, don’t worry. You can stay here with me if you want to avoid your mother."

"Thanks, Hope, but I think I’m going to have to face her head on this time. I shouldn’t be afraid anymore. I have to tell her once and for all to stay out of my life." Penelope knows that she should go up against her mother, that she has to be brave and shouldn’t run away from this.

"If you’re sure. But just know that you’re always welcome to stay here if things become really bad, okay?"

"Thanks, Hope. You’re an amazing friend," Penelope tells her with a smile and then leans in to give the auburn-haired girl a hug.

After a couple of minutes, Penelope breaks the hug and smiles. She then turns to Josie and with a smirk on her face, and says, "So, you’re the infamous Josie."

The brunette is a bit taken aback by the sudden change in the raven-haired girl’ s attide . "I uh.. I… Yeah. That’s me."

"It’s very nice to meet you, Josie. You’re just as beautiful as Hope describes you," Penelope tells her, making Josie’s face immediately heat up. She was blushing madly at the thought of Hope actually talking to her best friend about her.

Hope feels like killing Penelope at that moment for embarrassing her like that in front of Josie.

"Penelope," Hope speaks again, her voice a little threatening. 

"Alright, alright…" Penelope pulls back and lifts her hands in the air as if surrendering. "You can tell her how beautiful she is yourself, Hope."

"Oh my god," Hope lets out and looks away, feeling even more embarrassed and unable to meet Josie’s eyes. She then grabs Penelope by the arm and makes her stand up from the couch. Hope turns to Josie afterwards and says, "Excuse us, Josie. I need to have a little word with this one."

Hope then drags her best friend away to the corridor where hopefully Josie wouldn’t be able to hear them. 

"Stop embarrassing me, Pen," Hope whispers, voice coming out angry.

"Hope, you need to make a move on her. You’ve been pining over that girl for god knows how long. It’s time to do something. I’m just giving you a little push."

Hope sighs because she feels so pressured. "Pen, please."

"Fine, but promise me that you’ll make a move soon. I can’t keep watching you torture yourself like this."

Hope finally agrees to that. She does want to do something, to show Josie that she likes her as more than a friend. "I will. Now stop embarrassing me in front of her."

When the two walk back inside the room, Josie is still sitting down on the couch quietly and staring into nothing. She’s deep in though because of Penelope’s words, overthinking everything that happened of course. The brunette’s mind starts imagining Hope talking to Penelope about her, telling her that she’s beautiful. It makes Josie feel  so  giddy.

"Sorry for leaving you alone, Josie," Hope apologizes to the brunette, snapping her out of her trance. Josie looks at her and when their eyes meet Hope feels like she literally forgot how to breathe. Then Josie smiles and the auburn-haired girl thinks her knees are going to give out. She barely manages to reach the couch and sit next to Josie with Penelope following behind her and sitting down as well. 

The three girls talk about casual things for a while before they decide that they should watch a movie. Hope quickly opens up her laptop and starts searching for something interesting to watch. 

"What do you guys wanna watch?" she asks both of them. Penelope just shrugs while Josie stays quiet. Hope waits for a bit and then sighs. "Uhh… Well if you won’t make any suggestions, what about Train to Busan 2? I’ve been meaning to watch it for a while now."

"What genre is it?" Josie asks curiously, because she’s never heard of the movie.

"Horror."

"Oh…" Josie’s voice gets a tiny bit high-pitched, which Hope notices immediately. "Oka-"

Hope interrupts her before she can agree. "You know what? It’s probably dumb anyway. Let’s watch something else." 

Hope quickly changes her mind because the last thing she wants is for Josie to watch something she doesn’t want. In the end, they end up putting some comedy on and everyone  is fine with that.

During the movie Hope and Josie are sitting very close to each other, so of course neither of them are paying any attention to what’s happening on the screen. Penelope, on the other hand, looks very amused and sometimes purposely bumps herself into Hope, pushing her closer to the brunette.

Halfway through the movie, Penelope’s phone starts beeping, indicating that she has received a text message.

"Oh wow," the raven-haired girl exclaims and smiles widely. It definitely catches both Hope and Josie’s attention.

"What’s going on? Who texted you?" Hope asks and leans in to see her best friend’s phone screen. She immediately gasps in shock the moment her eyes land on a picture that some girl sent Penelope, a very inappropriate picture. "Is that a nude?"

"Of course it is," Penelope replies like it’s the most casual thing in the world, as if girls send those to her all the time.

"I can’t believe I’m best friends with you..." Hope shakes her head at her best friend’s response.

"So this was fun, girls," Penelope suddenly tells both of them with such enthusiasm. "But I gotta run. Tina… or was it Tara, something like that, wants me to fulfill her every desire tonight. So I’ll see you when I see you."

Both Hope and Josie are speechless as soon as they hear Penelope’s words. Before they can say anything, the raven-haired girl has already gotten up from the couch and put on her jacket. They see her quickly walk out the door and get out of the apartment soon after, leaving both  of them alone.

"I’m really sorry about her, Josie…" Hope apologizes sincerely while looking at Josie. The brunette just stares at her for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

"Don’t be. Your best friend is fun," she tells her, making Hope laugh as well. 

When they stop laughing, they continue watching the movie. Both of them ha ve no idea what the hell  is going on or where the plot  is going, but they  don’t care. They just like the idea of being next to each other. 

A couple of minutes later Pongo joins them by jumping on the couch in between them. He happily barks and wags his tail. 

Josie chuckles and touches the dog. He immediately takes a liking to her and as Hope stares at the sight before her, she can’t help but fall deeper for the girl.

"He likes you already," Hope states with a wide smile on her face. 

Josie looks at her and smiles as well as she gently moves her hand over Pongo’s soft fur. "I like him too."

The two girls spend the next couple of hours just talking to one another and playing with Pongo. It’s feels amazing to both of them and they absolutely can’t get enough of each other. Josie calls MG to pick her up around 11:30 PM because it’s getting really late and she has some stuff to finish for college early on the next day. It makes both of them sad that they have to say their goodbyes, but they know that they will see each other again  soon , on the bus, at exactly 7:25 PM.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The next couple of days end up being wonderful for Hope. She has so much fun with Josie, spending time together at night. Everything is going perfect for her right now, except one thing. Her business isn’t doing so well and she’s late paying her rent  this month, for the first time since she’s lived in this apartment . It gets worse when one morning the auburn-haired girl hears the doorbell ring and she finds her landlord on the other side of the door with an angry expression on his face.

"You’re late. Where is my money?" Mr. Pickering, the worst man Hope has probably ever met in her life, asks her, almost yelling at the top of his lungs. He’s a short and very chubby man, and his face gets so red when he is angry. Right now, Hope thinks he resembles a tomato that’s about to burst any second. 

"Mr. Pickering, I’m so sorry. I just need a little more time, please," Hope explains to him. She really doesn’t want to tap into her savings in order to pay the rent this month, but that might just be the case unfortunately.

"It’s been three days. I cannot tolerate this irresponsible behavior. Either you transfer that money in my bank account tomorrow or else you’ll have to move out. I cannot deal with unreliable tenants," Mr. Pickering continues speaking in such an angry manner that it frightens Hope. She’s worried that the man will ask her to evict because she’s getting on his nerves. 

"Okay, okay… I will give you your money tomorrow."

"You better!" 

With that Mr. Pickering leaves and Hope quickly shuts the door and leans her back on it. She hates that she has money problems and barely makes enough to pay her rent every month. 

When she makes it to her gallery about an hour later, Hope is still in a very bad mood and doesn’t feel like working at all. She wants nothing more than to stay at home and just eat chocolate and watch Netflix all day, but she can’t. Hope needs to try to make as much money as possible and prays to God for a lot of orders and many visitors at the gallery today. 

Unfortunately her prayers go unanswered because barely anyone steps foot inside her gallery throughout the whole day. The only one that ends up visiting it is her best friend Penelope. That should cheer Hope up, but sadly, the girl has some bad news to tell Hope.

"I’m moving to Belgium," Penelope suddenly blurts out, shocking Hope with her statement.

"What? What’s going on? Why are you moving all of a sudden?" Hope has a million more questions that she wants to ask her best friend, but she manages to get out only three of htem. 

"I spoke to my mother, Hope. Things with her went surprisingly well these days. You have no idea how different she is. She’s not the devil she used to be when I was younger," Penelope starts explaining to her best friend. "She wants me to go live in Belgium with her, to try to be a family… and I think I want to give her a chance again."

"Pen.." Hope is worried, very very worried for her best friend and how quickly she made this huge decision about her life. "Please, think about this. I don’t believe you’ve thought this through."

"Hope, I know what I’m doing," Penelope says firmly, as if she’s a hundred percent sure that the decision she’s making is the correct one. "I know my mother more than anyone and this woman that I spent time with these days, she is not her. There isn’t even a hint of the devil that she once used to be. I’m sure, Hope. I know that she’s changed for the better and I want to give her a chance."

Hope sighs, still unconvinced about this whole thing. She is afraid that Penelope might make a mistake because this decision is so sudden. She doesn’t want her best friend to end up heartbroken in the end because her mother might get back to her old ways. 

"Okay, if that’s what you want. I’ll support you," Hope ends up saying. "I don’t like it. But I’ll always support you, Pen. No matter what."

With a smile on her face, Penelope then moves closer to her best friend and gives her a nice warm hug. "I love you. Thank you for supporting me."

"I’ll miss you so much, Pen." Hope feels the tears start to build up in her eyes at the thought of her best friend being so far away from her. Belgium is like halfway across the world.

"I’ll miss you too, dork. I promise that I’ll visit and maybe you can come to Belgium too for a vacation." 

Hope is a hundred percent sure that she absolutely cannot afford to go on a vacation to Belgium, but she still ends up nodding with a smile on her face, like everything is okay. "Yeah…"

Penelope leaves the gallery soon after with the excuse that she has to visit her mother and Hope is left alone. She feels even worse now that she did in the morning. This day just keeps getting more horrible by the second. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Meanwhile, Josie’s day is going amazing. She’s currently with MG in the middle of their Computer Networking lecture and both of them are listening intently at the lecturer speaking. 

"What service on the network is responsible for taking a domain name and resolving it into an IP address?" Mr. Williams asks and then looks at the class, expecting someone to answer his question.

Immediately, MG and Josie both speak up in unison, "DNS!"

"Exactly, Miss Saltzman and Mr. Greasley." Mr. Williams is satisfied that he received an answer from his top students. "It's the DNS server."

Both MG and Josie high five and continue smiling widely while listening to the lecturer talking about the topic at hand with such enthusiasm. 

The two best friends don’t even notice when 30 minutes pass and to their dismay, the lecture sadly ends. They were so engrossed by it, so captivated by the way Mr. Williams talked about Computer Networking, that time just flew by for them. He is definitely one of their favorite lecturers. 

MG and Josie, being the complete nerds that they are, go to all of their classes for the rest of the day and also finish what work they have for the assignments that they are working on together. Josie is definitely satisfied with how her day is going so far but she cannot wait for it to be even better when she sees Hope later.

After her classes end, Josie goes to the senior citizens home to see her grandma and as soon as she walks inside the old woman’s room, she is surprised to see her with Frank, her new boyfriend, cuddling on the bed. It’s definitely an adorable sight to see and it makes Josie smile so widely.

"Josie…" Liz happily says her granddaughter’s name as soon as she notices her walk inside the room. She pulls away from Frank and makes her way to the brunette in order to give her a nice warm hug.

"Grandma!" Josie says with the same excitement as her grandmother.

The old woman pulls away a few seconds later and gives her granddaughter a kiss on each of her cheeks to show just how much she loves her.

"Josie, you’ve met Frank," Liz tells the brunette and points at the old man who is sitting on her bed at that moment, smiling widely.

"Yes, of course."

Frank quickly reaches inside his pockets and takes out a few candies, then hands them to Josie as if she’s a child. "There you go, dearie. These are the most delicious candies you’ll ever taste! I guarantee!"

"Thank you, Frank. That’s very sweet of you," Josie expresses her gratitude to the old man.

"Anything for my lovely Liz’s granddaughter!"

"Oh, Frank… You’re such a sweetheart!" Liz quickly gives him a kiss on the cheek and hugs him for being nice to Josie.

The three of them spend some time together afterwards, playing some board games and just having a wonderful time. Josie feels as if her day can’t get any better than this. Well, only one thing can make it the best day in her life in her opinion and that’s seeing Hope and maybe going on a date with Hope and kissing her and cuddling with her and doing all those amazing lovey-dovey fluffy things that you can do with someone you are madly crushing on. Unfortunately for Josie, they’re not at that stage yet. They’re just friends… but she badly wants them to be more than that.

At 7 PM Josie leaves the senior citizens home and heads to the bus stop. She absolutely cannot wait to see Hope. Josie is also planning on asking her hang out again but this time at her apartment, not Hope’s. Now that Lizzie isn’t there anymore with Sebastian, Josie can bring whoever she wants without worrying about anything.

When Josie gets on the bus, she sits at her usual seat and leans her head against the window, staring out and waiting for the bus to reach Hope’s stop. Her heart is already beating fast at the thought of the auburn-haired girl getting on and smiling at her.

Josie loves that whenever Hope gets on the bus, it’s like the whole vehicle lights up, as if the girl radiates positive energy. Just being around her makes the brunette so happy, like she’s on cloud 9.

At 7:25 PM, Hope gets on the bus, but for some unknown reason to Josie, she doesn’t even look at her. She doesn’t smile and she seems like she’s about to cry any second. It makes Josie immediately worried seing the other girl in that state.

Hope makes her way to the brunette and sits down next to her. Before she can say anything, though, Josie speaks up.

"Hope, what’s wrong?" she immediately asks her, her voice shaking with worry.

"I’ve just…" Hope pauses and takes a deep breath. "I’ve had a really bad day, Josie…"

"I’m really sorry. Do you want to talk about it? I’m always here to listen."

"No, not really," Hope says without looking at her, her voice low and barely audible. If Josie wasn’t sitting so close to her, she wouldn’t have been able to hear her at all.

"Do you maybe want to go to my place and hang out there tonight?" Josie then asks her. "Maybe it’ll cheer you up. We can watch a movie or something or we can order pizza? Whatever you want to do, Hope. I just want to make you feel better."

For probably the first time that day Hope smiles. She looks at Josie and just smiles at her. "Okay…"

The rest of the bus ride is silent and at around 8 PM the girls reach Josie’s apartment. Even from the outside Hope notices that the apartment seems very luxurious which makes her wonder how much money Josie has. The girl works in the IT industry after all, which tells Hope that she probably makes a lot more than she does.

Once they get inside, Hope is utterly speechless because the place is gorgeous. It’s decorated in such a nice manner and everything about is screams class.

"Now that I live alone, at least there’s no chance to walk in on my sister and that horrible Sebastian dude of hers hooking up on the couch," Josie tells Hope while she’s taking off her leather jacket, the one that Hope gave to her. "Do you know how many times I cleaned this place because of her? More times than I can count, Hope."

"That must’ve been really tough," Hope says and feels pity for Josie that she went through that shit with her sister. "Since I’m an only child, I’ve never had to share a room with anyone."

"Lucky you. Lizzie and I would always fight because she would assume I take her things, but she just ends up misplacing them," Josie continues speaking and leads Hope to the large living room.

"That’s awful. I-" Hope is about to speak but stops herself when she takes a look at the living room. It’s gorgeous and she gasps when she takes in the sight of the large 75" flat screen Smart TV on the wall.

"Everything okay?" Josie asks when she notices Hope’s reaction.

"Yeah, it’s just… Your apartment is beautiful."

It really is beautiful in Hope’s opinion, but it also makes her feel a bit jealous because she would never be able to afford anything like this in her wildest dreams.

"Thank you," Josie says and smiles at Hope."Come on. My room is over there. It’s more comfortable."

As soon as they walk inside, Hope is even more surprised when she sees the large bed, which looks soft as fuck and she wonders what it’s like to sleep in it. She also notices Josie’s PC and the three screens. She continues looking around and sees another flat screen TV, smaller than the one in the living room, a PlayStation 4 there and three beanbag chairs. She also notices Josie’s big wardrobe that would probably hold 4 times all of Hope’s clothes.

Seeing how this room looks makes Hope feel a bit embarrassed because apparently Josie is so much wealthier than her. She knows that she shouldn’t feel that way because she shouldn’t judge other people based on how much money they make, but with all the problems happening with her rent and everything, she can’t help it. The fact that Josie has so much more money than her makes Hope feel like she isn’t good enough for the brunette and wonders how a girl like that would possibly communicate with her.

Hope tries to keep it together and puts on her best fake smile, hoping that Josie doesn’t see through it, and sits down on Josie’s bed. She pretends like everything is fine throughout the whole time she’s at the brunette’s apartment, as if her world isn’t crumbling down. She smiles through the movie they are watching and tries not to cry because of how scared she is that her best friend is leaving her, and about the money she owes to the landlord. She tries not to feel devastated that her business is doing badly.

Hope pretends that everything is okay when deep inside she feels like breaking down and crying, but she doesn’t want to do it in front of Josie, not when the brunette is smiling so much and laughing during the movie they decide to watch. She doesn’t want to ruin Josie’s mood by bothering her with her stupid problems.

When Hope gets back to her small one-bedroom apartment that night, she feels awful and ends up crying herself to sleep. Every single horrible thought runs through her mind. She hates the fact that she doesn’t feel good enough for Josie and how Penelope is leaving for Belgium, and how much money she’ll be left with in her bank account after she pays her rent to Mr. Pickering.

Hope has never felt more horrible in her whole life than she does at that moment...

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo a lot happened in this chapter... Poor Hope, though.. :( Some angst is approaching, guys. Hopefully it won't be too much. We'll see. :D
> 
> Thank you all for following this story and leaving kudos and comments. You guys are awesome! <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is angsty... so prepare a bit.
> 
> Have fun and enjoy! <3

Hope has been actively avoiding Josie for the past few days and she feels terrible about it. They haven’t met up on the bus because Hope would lie and tell her that she’s very busy and has to stay up late at the gallery. Deep down Hope knows that she shouldn’t do this, but she can’t help it. All the emotions that she’s experiencing are clouding her judgement. She’s scared of her growing feelings for the other girl, feelings that she thinks she shouldn’t even have, because in her opinion, Josie deserves so much better than a struggling artist.

Hope has been sitting on her couch for the past hour now, trying to calculate how much money she has to spend at maximum till the end of the month in order to be able to cover the big hole in her account that was left because of rent. She has to admit, ever since she and Josie have began hanging out, she’s been spending a bit more than she should, especially when they’ve been going to Starbucks quite a lot.

Hope smiles as she remembers that time the barista wrote Josie’s name wrong and how she teased her about it. She also remembers how cutely Josie would take sips from her drink every 2 minutes and smile as soon as she tastes the hot beverage. Hope adores absolutely everything about the brunette, from the way she laughs at her stupid jokes, even though she thinks they’re probably not that funny, to the way she smiles whenever Hope gets on the bus, down to the last tiny detail. Hope’s favorite thing has to be whenever Josie starts talking about something that she loves. Even though she doesn’t understand shit about what the other girl is talking about, Hope could probably listen to her forever, because just the sound of her voice makes her feel relaxed and just plain happy.

A long sigh escapes Hope’s mouth as she remembers all those perfect moments with Josie and how everything just fell apart so fast. She hates that she feels not good enough to be with Josie and she feels even worse that Penelope is leaving. Hope thinks that the world is against her and as if there’s nothing she can do to fix it.

Even more depressing thoughts invade the girl’s head as she continues making calculations and wondering what to do to earn more money. Business has been going pretty badly because barely any people have been to her gallery and there haven’t been many orders  requested  on the website. Hope starts to worry about how she’s going to manage everything. She can’t keep on relying only on her savings. 

"I need to start brainstorming," Hope mutters under her breath. "Or maybe just get advice from someone. Damn it, Hope. Think…"

Hope feels very frustrated, so she grabs a pen and piece of paper. 

_How to earn more money?_

Hope starts writing down anything that comes to her mind, which is… just 3 words – paintings, gallery and orders. But that doesn’t really help her much. Her mind just feels so blank. It’s not like she hasn’t come up with great ideas in the past, but this time it’s very bad and she’s just maybe freaking out a bit too much.

"I’m so stupid…" Hope says out loud and crumples the paper into a ball, then just throws it in some random direction. "…and so useless."

Hope feels like crying her eyes out because of how miserable she is right now. She then grabs her phone and quickly unlocks it before calling the only person she knows might make her feel better. 

"Hey, mom!" Hope says as soon as she hears her amazing mother’s voice on the other line. She rubs her eyes to get rid of the tears that had started building up there. 

"Hope, sweetie! Is everything okay? What’s going on?"

"Mom, I need you," Hope says and the tears just start welling up again. Her voice is shaking as she speaks, which makes her mother worried.

"Hope, tell me what’s going on," Hayley asks her daughter from the other line and prepares for the worst.

"I’m struggling financially and I don’t know how to fix it," Hope explains to her and runs her hand through her messy auburn hair.

"Oh my poor daughter."

"I need to come up with some new ideas, but my mind is just so blank and I can’t," Hope continues. "I feel like a failure."

"I’m sure that you can come up with something if you put your mind to it, Hope. You’re an amazing artist and business owner, sweetie. You came a long way and you’ve always managed to get out of situations like this one in the past. I’m sure that you can do it again. I believe in you, Hope."

Hope feels a bit relieved after hearing her mother’s words. She knew that the she needed to hear them. Her mom always knows what to say.

"Thank you, mom." Hope smiles widely. "I’ll try again."

"Don’t worry, sweetie. Everything will be okay," she hears her mother say from the other line with such a reassuring voice that she really does believe her.

"Okay, mom. I love you."

"I love you too, darling."

After they end their call, Hope feels determined to get her shit together. She ends up reaching out to the other gallery owners and schedules a meeting with them for the next day, so they can maybe give her some advice on what she should do.

Hope definitely feels a lot better now after she’s talked with her mother and that there is an actual chance of getting her business back on track.

A couple of minutes later, Hope hears her phone vibrate in her pocket multiple times. She quickly takes a look and sees a few messages from Josie, which makes Hope’s smile drop once again. The anxious feelings just come right back.

Hope doesn’t respond to any of them. She just swipes the notifications to the left, completely ignoring them.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"Then the man ravaged me against the wall," Linda Dumont tells everyone about the guy she last hooked up with. "Let’s just say we don’t have to worry about his wife anymore."

Hope rolls her eyes as soon as she hears the story of her fellow gallery owner having sex with a married man.

"Can we please discuss the next topic of our meeting?" Camille suddenly says after she notices that Hope has become frustrated because of the direction the conversation is going.

"Yes, yes. Of course!" Linda agrees and waves her hand. "Go ahead."

"So I was thinking about what Hope’s next move could be," Camille starts saying and then turns to Hope. "What if you do one of those events where people drink wine and paint?"

Hope thinks about it and she actually believes that this isn’t really a bad idea. It could work.

"I can make it for beginners so more people can join," Hope says with a smile and Camille nods.

"Well, I’m always up for wine!" John Goodwin immediately chimes at the idea and giggles. "I approve!"

"Me too! There’s bound to be some hot older women at an event like that," Roman also agrees with the idea and smirks, already feeling excited about possibly getting laid.

"I like it. Any event that has wine is amazing, darling!" Linda Dumont also likes the idea.

"Great!" Camille beams and writes it down on a list. "I also have a few more ideas."

The older woman then begins explaining how Hope should also start doing some personalized paintings per request of her customers and how she should step up her digital marketing, because apparently the website is doing very badly and the traffic needs to be increased.

The other gallery owners also give some advice about what Hope should do in order for her website to get more exposure, even Roman tells her some pretty decent tips, which definitely surprises Hope. All this time she was thinking that he has absolutely no idea what he’s doing, but he kind of proved her wrong.

The meeting continues on for about an hour more and then Hope leaves. She’s supposed to meet up with Penelope so they could have some fun before she leaves for Belgium. 

They end up seeing each other at a Pool club near Penelope’s place so they could play. They both love the game but haven’t been there in a while. 

"Bitch, who am I gonna play with when you’re gone?!" Hope whines as she makes a shot. She has to pocket the stripes, much to her disliking. She usually has more luck with the solids. "I’m gonna miss us hanging out."

"Don’t whine, you big baby…" Penelope chuckles. "You have Josie. I’m satisfied knowing that I’m leaving you in good hands."

Hope feels a pang of guilt at the mention of the brunette’s name, the girl she’s been avoiding for the past few days. She hasn’t told Penelope that, though, in fear that the girl would scold her and tell her that she’s being an idiot for overthinking yet again. Hope knows her best friend all too well. 

"Her and I haven’t really seen each other much these days," Hope confesses. "I’ve been really busy at the gallery."

Penelope sighs as soon as she hears the girl’s words and bends down towards the pool table so she could make her move. "Adult life, man. I feel you. I’m gonna have to find a new job in Belgium now."

"You could bartend again. I’m sure a lot of those European girls would go crazy over you." Hope smirks and sends a wink to her best friend’s direction before turning her attention back to the game. She has 5 balls that she needs to pocket while Penelope only has 2 left before she has to go for the 8th ball and win the game. 

"Oh yeah, I know they will." Penelope’s voice comes out so seductive and she smirks at the thought of having so many girls crawling at her feet and begging her to satisfy their every need. "I’m irresistible."

"Sure, Casanova," Hope says and chuckles at how full of herself Penelope is. "Now stop daydreaming and play. It’s your turn."

The two best friends end up playing for another hour before they decide to head to Penelope’s place and have a sleepover. The plan is for Hope to go to the airport with her in the morning, so she could send her off. 

At around 11:30 PM they are in their P J s, eating junk food and watching some chick flick on Penelope’s laptop. The whole apartment is almost empty and everything is cleared out, except 1 suitcase which Penelope will take with her on the plane. The raven-haired girl had hired a company to move all of her things overseas, so someone came by the day before to load her belongings and have them be transported via sea freight to Belgium in the upcoming days. It makes Hope sad seeing the apartment so empty.  They shared so many memories there over the years  and s he’s really going to miss her best friend.

"I know that look, Hope," Penelope suddenly says when she sees her best friend get all emotional. "Don’t. You’re going to make me cry…"

"I can’t help it," Hope tells her and feels as if she’s going to break down crying any minute. 

"Damn it," Penelope curses and then pulls Hope in for a hug. "I’ll miss you so much."

"I’ll miss you too…"

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hope feels absolutely horrible the next morning after she sends Penelope off to Belgium, so she gets back to her apartment after and lies down on the bed, crying her eyes out.

"Damn it, Pen…" Hope curses before burying her face in her pillow and she continues sobbing.

Penelope has been gone for half an hour and she already misses her. When they were at the airport Hope told her best friend to text her as soon as she lands, because she wants to know that the girl is safe. 

At that moment Hope’s phone starts vibrating again and the girl knows that it’s definitely Josie who’s texting her. She lifts her head up from the pillow and unlocks her phone to find so many messages from the brunette. A sigh escapes Hope’s mouth and she turns off her phone. She doesn’t feel like she can deal with this right now.

Josie on the other hand is absolutely going crazy because of the fact that Hope’s barely been texting her and they haven’t seen each other for the past few days. It makes the brunette so worried and she wonders whether she should just go to Hope’s gallery and confront her or something. 

Every time Josie decides to do that instead of going on the bus, she stops herself, because she wonders if she’s just being paranoid and whether Hope really is just super busy and doesn’t have time to hang out. So Josie doesn’t go and gets on the bus as usual, not breaking her routine. She just feels very sad that Hope isn’t on the bus with her. 

Josie misses her so much. She had gotten used to the auburn-haired girl sitting next to her every day and them having conversations during the ride or maybe hanging out after. She was so used to it that it  feels weird now, different, and Josie doesn’t really like different. She loves her routines and whenever something just changes out of nowhere in a not so good way, it makes her feel anxious and uncomfortable. 

Josie sends Hope yet another text, probably the 50 th one or something, she doesn’t know, she stopped counting at some point, and  then she  just throws her phone on her bed. The brunette feels frustrated because Hope isn’t replying to her. She hasn’t even acknowledged her messages at all, which makes Josie feel terrible. 

A frustrated sigh escapes Josie’s mouth, so she decides to call her best friend MG  and ask him to come  over to her place in order  for her to vent. She just needs to let it out somewhere and he’s the only person who’s going to listen to her. 

"Jo, what’s up? Is everything okay?" MG immediately asks, worried because Josie had just called him out of the blue.

"Hey, MG. Can you come over?" Josie sounds as if she’s on the verge of crying.

The boy immediately agrees and after about 30 minutes, he’s at Josie’s apartment with a bag of junk food. It’s sweet and Josie absolutely loves him for it. He always knows what to bring to make her feel better. They put the food on top of Josie’s table in the living room and sit on the couch. 

"She’s ignoring me, MG. I don’t know what I did wrong…" Josie says after a few minutes of silence and runs her hands through her hair. "We were hanging out a few days ago and everything was perfect, MG. We were here, having fun and all. She was just so cute and sweet, we were laughing. I loved it. Then suddenly she started barely responding to me, not showing up on the bus, and it just makes me feel so fucking frustrated."

"Hey, hey, hey!" MG quickly goes to Josie’s side and hugs her. The girl sounded so worried as she was telling him everything and was talking so fast. It instantly made MG want to comfort his best friend. "Relax, Jo. Maybe she’s busy."

"Well, yeah. I guess, she did say that, but what if she’s lying? What if something is wrong and she doesn’t want to see me anymore?" Josie panics at the thought of Hope ghosting her and possibly never talking to her again. "Oh god, what am I going to do?"

"Breathe, Jo…" MG tells his best friend and puts his hand on her shoulder for reassurance. "You’re overreacting. I’m sure everything’s going to be fine. Like I said, she’s probably just busy with work or something."

"You’re right, yeah. I guess I could be overreacting..." Josie agrees with her best friend and inhales deeply. He could be right. Hope could just be busy at work. Yes, that could be it. Josie feels like she does have a tendency to overreact, so it’s highly possible. But something at the back of Josie’s mind tells her that it’s not that, that the girl is lying to her and is avoiding her on purpose. It makes her feel sick to her stomach. 

"Let’s watch something and eat junk food, okay? It will make you feel better," MG suggests after a while and Josie agrees. She needs this. She needs to take her mind off of Hope for a little while and stop worrying.

"Okay, yeah…"

  
  


* * *

  
  


Josie goes to the senior citizens home to visit her grandma like she does every day. She felt a bit better when MG came over and they were hanging out, but as soon as the boy left,  it all turned to shit once again. She skipped the lectures that she had in the afternoon and just decided to go see her grandma. 

A wide smile spread across the brunette’s face as soon as she saw the older woman and immediately ran up to her so she could embrace her. 

"Josie!" Liz exclaims and hugs her granddaughter tightly as if she hasn’t seen her in years. 

"I love you so much, grandma!" Josie tells the woman and squeezes like her life depends on it. She’s scared that she’ll crumble down if her grandma lets go.

They stay like that for a few minutes before going to their usual spot – the table near the window where the chess game is already set up. 

"Is everything okay, Josie?" Liz asks as soon as they sit down and she notices that Josie appears to be sad for some reason. "Did something happen?"

"I don’t know, grandma," Josie says and makes her first move on the chess board. She’s playing with the white pieces this time. "Things are just weird with Hope right now. I don’t know what’s going on."

"What do you mean, dear?" the older woman curiously asks, her expression worried.

"I haven’t seen her in a few days and I feel like something is going on. She’s not returning my messages. I don’t know what I did to make her avoid me, grandma," Josie explains, now on the verge of tears. 

"Oh my dear granddaughter…"

Before her grandma can say anything more, Josie continues speaking, "The worst part is that I’m too much of a coward to go and confront her in person."

"Josie, listen to me," the older woman starts speaking now and holds Josie’s hand in hers. "You need to fight in order to win a girl’s heart. You shouldn’t give up so easily just because something’s wrong. Do you know how many times I’ve been mad at your grandfather?" Liz pauses and takes a deep breath. "Probably millions. But that man was so stubborn and he never gave up. He would always try to make me talk to him, always brought me gifts and showed me that he’s there, no matter what."

Josie brushes a tear that had started falling down her cheek. She’s heard so many stories of how brave her grandfather was and how many romantic deeds he did for her grandma. It inspires her and makes her want to be just like him.

"Grandma…" Josie says as more tears begin falling down her face. "I don’t want to lose her."

Liz immediately stands up from her chair and goes to embrace Josie. "Be brave, my dear girl," she softly tells her and runs her hand gently over the girl’s back. "Everything’s going to be okay."

"You’re right, grandma…" Josie closes her eyes and lets out a sigh. "I need to try harder or else I’m going to lose her."

Liz let’s go of Josie after a while and gets back to her seat, so they could resume their chess game. 

"After you leave here tonight, I want you to go see this girl, Josie…" Liz instructs her as if the brunette will be going on some sort of mission. "You need to buy her flowers and go to her gallery, so you could charm her!"

The older woman’s words make Josie chuckle. She loves how her grandma always suggests giving flowers, like it’s the ultimate most romantic thing you can do.

"I’ll try to charm her, grandma," Josie says while smiling widely.

"That’s my granddaughter!" Liz happily exclaims. "She won’t be able to resist you!"

Just like that Josie feels so much better. Her grandma always manages to get her in a better mood and she’s now also determined to go to Hope’s gallery. She shouldn’t just let this go and let the girl just avoid her like that. Josie wants to talk to her in person and see what the hell is wrong and what she can do to fix it. 

When Josie  gets out of the senior citizens home, she starts making her way to Hope’s gallery. The auburn-haired girl had told her the other day that she’s working late every day this week, so Josie is certain that she’ll be there. 

The brunette decides to take her grandma’s advice and buys a bouquet of a dozen roses from a flower shop that she looked up on Google Maps. It’s about 15 minutes away from Hope’s gallery, so it’s perfect. 

With a wide smile on her face, Josie gets out of the flower shop, the bouquet in her hand, and continues walking to the gallery. She’s nervous like never before and her heart is beating so fast against her chest that she feels as if she’ll pass out any second. But she has to pull through, to get past all that nervousness, and go talk to Hope. 

When Hope’s gallery finally comes into view, Josie’s smile immediately falters because the lights inside are switched off. The brunette finds it odd because Hope is supposed to be in there, so why would she stay in the dark. Josie reaches the entrance about 2 minutes later and sighs when she sees the closed sign hanging there. 

It’s disappointing. Josie drops the bouquet down on the ground and sighs, feeling even more frustrated than she did that morning. 

"Hope lied to me…" Josie mutters under her breath, her tone filled with so much sadness. 

The brunette places her hand on her heart and takes a deep breath. Hope lied to her that she’s working late and that hurts. Josie feels like someone just took out her heart and stomped on it over and over again. She wonders why Hope would lie to her. Did she  come off as too clingy? Did she annoy her by talking too much about her interests in computers?  What did she do?

After a few more minutes spent in silence, Josie bends down and grabs the bouquet of roses. 

Without looking back,  the brunette then starts walking away from the gallery... 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I feel really bad for Josie... Hope is such an idiot, but I kinda get her, I mean... I'm an overthinker and I worry about even the slightest things and get so scared and sometimes avoid people too and deal with my own problems.. but like.. poor baby Josie.. she doesn't deserve this... :( 
> 
> Things will get better, though. Don't worry, guys. <3 
> 
> Thank you all for following this story and for your support with comments, kudos and everything. You guys are absolutely amazing! <3 
> 
> To those who live in the US, I hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving! <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoyyy! <3

Josie doesn’t text Hope at all for the next few days. She doesn’t even bother opening up their chat. It’s not like Hope had even responded to any of her previous messages anyway. They were just left there unanswered. So Josie decides not to bother her anymore. She’s tired of reaching out and getting nothing in return. It’s obvious at this point that Hope doesn’t want to communicate with her.

They haven’t met up with each other on the bus as well, because Hope is nowhere to be seen on it. It makes Josie’s heart hurt but she knows that she should stay strong. It’s not like they’ve known each other for a really long time or are incredibly close friends or something. Josie tries so hard to believe that, even though she knows she’s just lying to herself. She feels like her and Hope are really close, like they have this incredible connection which one might describe as soulmate-like, but she’s trying so hard to convince herself that it isn’t like that.

Josie sighs as she stares at the chunk of code she’s written. She’s stuck and doesn’t know where to go from there. It’s like her ability to concentrate and her motivation died when Hope started avoiding her. That damn auburn-haired girl is all she thinks about and it’s frustrating for her.

"Come on, Josie! You can do this," the brunette says out loud to herself and tries to write some more. It doesn’t work, obviously, so she ends up deleting everything afterwards and just getting up from her seat.

Josie lets out a frustrated groan and jumps on her bed. She hates this so much. She despises the fact that she let herself get so close to Hope to the point where she’s falling for her, to just have this all stripped away like it’s nothing. She’s angry that Hope hasn’t been answering her texts and that she lied to her days ago. Josie is furious that she put so much effort for a person who obviously doesn’t feel the same way as her.

The brunette knows that she’s being so pathetic right now and that she should pull herself together. She can’t let her life fall apart just because some girl decided to ghost her. But it’s so hard, because Josie thought there was something there, that whatever she had with Hope was special. Guess it wasn’t…

"You need to stop beating yourself up about this," Josie hears her best friend say as soon as he enters her room. "She’s not worth it."

"But MG, I-"

"No," he interrupts her. "No, Josie. You’re not doing this again. You blamed yourself when you broke up with Jade, even though she was the problem, that controlling bitch." MG pauses and sits down on the bed next to the brunette, then puts his hand on her back in reassurance and continues speaking. "Don’t do this again, because Hope decided to be a bitch and avoid you for probably no reason at all."

"I know, MG," Josie tells him with tears in her eyes. "I fucking know, okay? I feel so stupid for feeling this way. It just hurts, so much…"

Josie lifts herself up afterwards and puts her arms around MG, hugging him tightly. The boy let’s her cry in his embrace. This is affecting him so much as well, because Josie is his best friend and he cares about her more than anything in this world.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hope has stayed up late at the gallery for the past few days and has worked tiredlessly to prepare for the upcoming "Wine and Paint" event that she’s planning. Camille’s been helping her a lot with it and it seems like things are going to be okay with the business. It makes Hope feel relieved at the thought. The fear that her gallery is failing is slowly but surely fading away.

Of course, she hasn’t stopped thinking about Josie all this time. She feels bad for avoiding her and not replying to her messages. The last one she answered was when she told her she was working late at the gallery before Penelope left for Belgium. The girl feels even worse when a few days ago the texts from Josie just stopped coming in. Hope noticed it because her phone hasn’t been blowing up with notifications since then. 

"Maybe I should open them," Hope says out loud and stares at Josie’s screen name on her phone. "She doesn’t deserve to be ignored…"

Hope sighs and  then hesitantly hits the notification at the top of her screen. The chat with Josie opens up and Hope starts reading the messages.

  
  


[10:34 AM] Josie: I had an amazing time with you last night <3

[10:36 AM] Josie: maybe we can do it again?

[11:24 AM] Hope: me too, I’d love too but I’m going to be busy these days at the gallery

[11:30 AM] Josie: oh… well okay, maybe when you have more time then

[11:31 AM] Josie: for now I will just enjoy my time with you on the bus <3

[11:50 AM] Hope: I’m sorry, Jo.. I won’t be on the bus for a while because I will be working late

[11:53 AM] Josie: oh… okay then…

  
  


Hope sighs when she sees these texts. It’s the last time she replied to Josie. After that the messages are just from the brunette. 

  
  


[3:53 PM] Josie: I love college so much… but it’s exhausting

[3:54 PM] Josie: I have this one class which is amazing but they give us so much work

[3:55 PM] Josie: the assignments are a lot and I also have to pass a written test to get a final grade :(

  
  


The messages stop for a while there and then Josie had texted her a few hours afterwards. 

  
  


[7:05 PM] Josie: I just saw my grandma <3 she has this new boyfriend Frank who is really cool

[7:10 PM] Josie: ugh stupid bus.. I hope it’s not late today :( have to wait 10 more minutes until it arrives

[7:11 PM] Josie: I’m gonna miss seeing you tonight… 

[7:29 PM] Josie: just passed your stop… it was weird not seeing you there ;( 

  
  


Hope fe els her heart hurt when she read s that last message, especially after seeing that crying emoji that the other girl put at the end. Another sigh escapes Hope’s mouth and she continues reading.

  
  


[11:29 PM] Josie: I wish you were here right now…

[11:30 PM] Josie: god, I probably sound stupid right now, but I kinda miss you, Hope…

[11:32 PM] Josie: I know we haven’t known each other for a long time, but… I care about you a lot and I hope that you’re okay…

[11:34 PM] Josie: you haven’t texted me in a while, so I really hope things are good, I’m sure you’re very busy with the gallery

[11:36 PM] Josie: keep working hard! <3

  
  


Hope feels tears forming in her eyes as she reads Josie’s supportive messages. She can’t stop but think how such an amazing girl is putting so much effort and how she encourages her. 

"Fuck, I’m such an ass…" Hope says as the tears end up falling down her face. "I shouldn’t have ignored her."

Hope then continues reading the next messages and they are mostly of Josie telling her some things that happened to her throughout the day along with the occasional positive supportive messages for her. It makes Hope feel even worse.

She spends the next 30 minutes reading the rest of the messages and comes to the end of the chat. The last message Josie sent her  gives her butterflies .

  
  


[5:47 PM] Josie: you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met, Hope <3

  
  


No, she’s far from amazing in Hope’s opinion. Right now she just hates herself so much, for being such an ass to Josie and ignoring her for days when the girl has been nothing but supportive. 

Hope then decides to text her in hopes that maybe she can do something to make it up to Josie.

  
  


[8:05 PM] Hope: hey, Jo… I’m sorry that I haven’t been replying to your messages for the past few days

[8:06 PM] Hope: I’ve just been really busy at the gallery…

  
  


Hope sends them and waits for a few minutes for Josie to reply. She sees that the girl is online, but hasn’t responded yet, which makes her feel very anxious. Hope brushes away her tears with the back of her hand and puts her phone away before heading off to the bathroom. She’s at her gallery right now, alone, because she had some additional things to prepare for the upcoming event. 

Around 10 more minutes pass.  Hope comes back and opens up the chat once again. Her eyes widen and she feels as if her heart just broke into millions of pieces when she  notices that Josie has read her messages, but hasn’t replied at all. She just left her on seen. Hope bites her her lower lip and feels even guiltier now because Josie is probably angry with her. So she decides to send another text message.

  
  


[8:21 PM] Hope: are you mad at me? :( I’m really sorry, Josie… I should’ve responded to you

  
  


Hope then waits again impatiently. She can feel her hands trembling nervously and the anticipation is driving her crazy. About a minute later she notices that Josie has seen her messages and she’s typing something because the three little dots appear next to her name.

  
  


[8:23 PM] Josie: funniest thing happened a few days ago… 

[8:24 PM] Josie: I went by your gallery to surprise you, but you weren’t there, even though you said you were working late, Hope

  
  


"Shit…" Hope swears as soon as she reads those two messages from Josie. "No…"

  
  


[8:24 PM] Hope: Josie, it’s not what you think…

[8:25 PM] Josie: you lied to me, Hope...

[8:26 PM] Hope: I was at home, some things happened and… just

[8:26 PM] Hope: oh fuck it… I’m calling you

  
  


Hope immediately dials Josie’s number and waits for the girl to pick up. When the brunette does, the line is silent, and that makes Hope panic even more.

"Josie, I’m so sorry…" Hope tells her and can hear Josie let out a frustrated sigh from the other line. "Please, let me explain everything to you. Can we meet up?"

"Fine," Josie just answers, still annoyed at the other girl. "Where are you?"

"I’m at my gallery. I can grab a taxi and meet you somewhere or-"

Josie interrupts her. "Don’t. I’m with MG right now. He can drive me to your gallery."

"Okay," Hope agrees and then Josie hangs up without saying anything else.

Hope feels scared because of what happened. She has never seen Josie like this, so mad, and at her of all people. She hates it and just wants to fix things with the brunette. The guilt that she’s feeling because of ignoring her is driving her crazy. Hope knows she shouldn’t have done it, but she was scared and it was like her whole life was falling apart. 

Around 20 minutes later, Hope hears a knock at her gallery’s door and quickly sprints to open it. When she does she’s greeted with the sight of Josie Saltzman who looks angry. She has her arms crossed in front of her chest, her eyebrows squinted and the most adorable pout on her face. Hope finds it adorable, even though she knows she shouldn’t because Josie is really mad at her. 

"Hey…" Hope says lamely and makes room for Josie to walk inside her gallery. The brunette is silent and that prompts Hope to speak once again. "I’m so sorry, Josie…"

"You said that already," Josie states and looks at Hope, her expression annoyed.

"Right," Hope starts talking again. "I did. It’s just... Josie, so many things happened and I didn’t know what to do. I was so scared."

"So you decided to avoid me instead of talking to me?"

Hope moves a bit closer to the brunette and looks at her straight in the eyes. "Josie, I know that I shouldn’t have done that, but I just wasn’t in a good place. Penelope left for Belgium and I’ve been having a hard time because my best friend is not here, so I didn’t come to the gallery for 2 days." Josie’s expression softens a little when she hears that. Hope then continues explaining herself. "My business was doing badly and I had to come up with some new ideas. I was really worried that I’m gonna go broke. I was late with my rent and the stupid landlord made me feel like shit by threatening to evict me, Josie. I’m not like you, I don’t have that much money…"

"Hope…" Josie says her name, sensing that Hope is panicking even more with each word that comes out of her mouth. Her expression is now so soft and she quickly takes the other girl’s hands in hers. She’s about to say something more, to reassure Hope, but the auburn-haired girl continues speaking. 

"When I saw your apartment and how many things you have, it made me feel so insecure. I kept thinking about why such an amazing girl like you would even communicate with a poor struggling artist like me. I felt like I’m not good enough-"

"Hope, stop!" Josie interrupts her. "Don’t ever say that again."

"What?" Hope’s voice shakes when she hears the girl’s words. 

"Don’t ever say that you’re not good enough, because you are. It doesn’t matter how much money you have. You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met," Josie tells her, her voice sounding so soft and sweet. She doesn’t appear angry anymore. Her words make Hope’s cheeks feel as if they’re on fire. "I’m so sorry that these bad things happened to you over the course of a few days, but Hope, you should’ve talked to me. I would’ve helped you."

"I didn’t want to be a burden," Hope confesses and looks away in embarrassment. "I felt insecure and I didn’t want to trouble you with my problems." 

"You’re not, Hope…" Josie reassures her and pulls her closer. "Please, let me help you."

"Okay..."

"I can help you out with your business and your rent," Josie suggests with a smile on her face. "Or you can maybe move in with me? I live alone in a big apartment. Lizzie’s not there, so her room is free. It’s all yours if you want it."

"Josie, I don’t know. I don’t think I can afford living in your apartment," Hope responds, feeling insecure once again because Josie’s place probably costs a lot of money. It’s very luxurious. 

"It doesn’t cost much," Josie explains to the other girl. "I’m renting it for barely nothing thanks to MG’s mom. She’s a real estate agent and used her connections to hook me and Lizzie up, so you won’t have any problem affording it."

"I’ll think about it, okay?" Hope tells her with a smile on her beautiful face. "Thank you…"

"Just please, promise me that you won’t avoid me anymore when something happens. I want you to talk to me if anything is bothering you."

Hope nods and then moves even closer to Josie. She wraps her arms around her and pulls her into a hug. "I promise…"

  
  


* * *

  
  


On the next day Hope  wakes up in a wonderful mood. She and Josie  are on good terms again and it’ s like all her worries from before just faded away. They talked about all of it the night before at Hope’s gallery and Josie had been so understanding. It just made Hope like her even more. 

With a wide smile on her face Hope  gets out of bed and ready to head off to her gallery. What she  definitely wasn’t expecing, though, was a loud banging on her door early in the morning. 

The auburn-haired girl  makes her way to the door, wondering who it could be. She  looks through the peep hole and  stiffens the moment she  sees who’s on the other side – Mr. Pickering. 

"Shit," Hope mutters under her breath and reaches for the keys. Her hands are shaking as she starts to unlock the door. 

Once she manage s to open it, she couldn’t even greet the man because he just barge s inside her apartment. At that moment Pongo ma kes his way to the corridor and start s barking. 

"We need to talk, Mikaelson," Mr. Pickering tells her, his voice stern and completely ignoring the dog. That man is always in a bad mood.

Hope fe els scared and wonder s what he’s going to tell her. "Is everything okay?"

"Listen," the man starts speaking again. "There’s been a slight change of plans and I’m going to have to increase your rent. There’s high demand on the market for apartments and the prices are going up tremendously."

Hope stop s listening to him the moment she  hears that he wants to increase her rent. It’s absurd and so unfair in her opinion. She’s not sure whether he’s allowed to do that or not. It honestly  makes her angry, but she trie s to keep her cool.

"I’m sorry, Mr. Pickering, but I cannot afford to pay higher rent," Hope explains to the man, seemingly calm. 

"Well, if that’s the case, then you better start packing your things," the man tells her, annoyed because of her response. "I’m going to find a new tenant that can afford this amazing apartment."

Amazing  is a big exaggeration, because the apartment  is kind of a dump and Mr. Pickering  is charging way too much for it.

"If that’s what you wish…"

Mr. Pickering move s past the girl, ready to leave. "I want you out by the end of the week," he t ells her and then ma kes his way out of the apartment without bothering to say goodbye.

Hope really dislikes that man and honestly, she’ll be glad to not have to deal with him after she leaves this apartment.

So that’s how the auburn-haired girl  finds herself at Josie’s college a few hours later. She wants to tell her that she’ll take her up on her offer and move in with her. Hope tells herself that it’s for the best, but she’ll have to be careful because she already has feelings for the girl and she doesn’t want to ruin everything, especially now that Josie is offering her a place to stay.

Hope takes out her phone and sends Josie a quick text, telling her that she’s outside Whitmore college’s main building. She knows that Josie will finish up with a lecture in a few minutes, so hopefully she’s not going to wait long. 

Josie texts her back pretty quickly and tells her that she’ll see her in a few minutes. She even sends her some heart emojis which makes Hope smile widely. Josie stands by her word and soon after, Hope sees her coming out of the building and walking towards her. The moment she catches sight of the brunette, Hope feels like she stopped breathing. Josie is absolutely gorgeous in her leather jacket and smiling so widely. It takes Hope’s breath away instantly. 

"Hey," Hope says with a grin on her face and leans in to give Josie a hug. 

The brunette happily returns it and holds Hope so tightly, like she never wants to let go of her.  She absolutely love s the way her body presses against the other girl’s. It makes her feel so amazing just being there in her embrace.

"Hey, Hope," Josie tells her as soon as she pulls away from the girl, much to her disliking. She wishes she could hold her forever. "Everything okay?"

"Uhm… Kinda," Hope seems so unsure and looks down at the ground. Things aren’t good, but at the same time they are, because she’ll at least have a place to stay. Moving is exhausting, though, and until she gets used to living in a new place, it will take some time. Hope is not that big of a fan of change. "Can we maybe get some coffee together?"

Josie looks at her with a bit of a worried expression and nods. "Okay, there’s a place down the street. The coffee there is good."

The brunette doesn’t really like Hope’s response to her question, but she doesn’t say anything about it. She’ll let the girl tell her when they get to the coffee shop.

"Lead the way!"

They walk into a really adorable place and quickly sit down at one of the table near the window. Josie loves sitting near windows because she enjoys watching people who pass by and make up stories about their lives.

"I’ll go get us some drinks," Josie states and sprints to the counter before Hope can say anything. 

The auburn-haired girl sighs as she sits down on the comfy chair and then just turns around to stare at the brunette from afar and admire her. Hope finds her so cute and adores everything about the girl. Honestly, she’s stared at her so many times, especially when they were on the bus together before they got to know each other, but Hope feels like she will never get tired of it. She can look at Josie forever…

A few minutes later, the brunette arrives back with their drinks. 

"Got you one with peanut butter. I know that you really like that flavor," Josie tells her and places the drink in front of Hope. 

"I love it. Thank you," the auburn-haired girl says and the reaches inside her bag to get her wallet, but Josie stops her.

"It’s on me, Hope…"

"But, Jo. I-" Hope is about to protest, but Josie quickly interrupts her.

"Let me treat you, please." She looks at her with that pouty expression on her face and Hope feels like she’s an absolute gonner.

"Okay…"

Josie smiles widely because she had her way and takes a few sips of her own drink while looking at Hope. When they don’t speak for a few minutes, Josie decides to bring up the topic of why Hope came all the way to campus.

"So, what brings you all the way here to the other side of the city?" Josie casually asks, trying not to sound worried, but deep down she is very worried that something might have happened.

Hope decides to tease a little. "Can’t I just come see you?"

"You can," Josie says with a chuckle. "Whitmore is pretty far away from where you live, though. I’m a bit surprised."

"Maybe I just really missed you and wanted to see you," Hope tells her, her voice still as teasing as ever. It makes Josie blush hard.

"Oh…" she lets out. "I mean, yeah… Okay, that’s a pretty good excuse. I mean, I missed you too, obviously. I always want to see you, Hope…"

Hope then starts laughing because Josie is rambling and she finds it absolutely adorable. The brunette pouts because of that.

"I’m sorry," Hope apologizes as soon as her laughter dies down. "I just think you’re adorable when you get all nervous and ramble."

Josie can’t even look at her in the eyes now. She feels like she’s dying of happiness on the inside because Hope Mikaelson thinks she’s adorable. She  then takes a few sips from her drink and looks out the window to the people passing by,  as if nothing happened .  Josie sees an old man with a kid, probably aroun 4-5 years old. He’s holding the child’s hand and it makes Josie think of her grandma and how much she loves her.  It takes a bit longer than it should, so her  daydream is broken when she hears Hope clear her throat. 

"Oh, sorry," she quickly apologizes and feels a bit embarrassed.

"It’s okay. What were you looking at?"

"Just people passing by. I like to imagine what their lives are like."

Hope hums at that and looks out the window as well. "What about that woman over there?"

Josie sees Hope pointing at some middle-aged woman in a suit who’s holding a folder and a cup of coffee. "Oh she’s definitely one of those crazy workaholics who are swamped with paperwork."

Hope chuckles at that. "Yeah, she looks like that type."

"Definitely," Josie says and chuckles alongside Hope. 

"So I was only teasing before. I mean, I did want to see you, but I also have something to tell you..." Hope finally brings up the topic that she wants to talk about. 

"Yeah?" Josie looks at her and is ready to listen to everything that the other girls tells her.

"I’ve decided to take you up on your offer and move in with you."

Josie’s face immediately lights up when she hears those words. "Oh my god, really?"

"Yes. I had a bad experience with my evil landlord this morning and he wants me to leave by the end of the week. So is it okay if I move into your place these days?"

"Yes, of course. I’m sorry that you had a bad experience with that guy," Josie tells her sympathetically and reaches out for Hope’s hand. "You can move in whenever you want. MG and I can help you transport your things too."

Josie feels so excited to have Hope move in with her. This way they could travel together on the bus and get off at the same stop. They could hang out more and Josie could play with Pongo as much as she wants. The only problem, in Josie’s opinion, is her growing feelings for the auburn-haired girl. Now that they’ll be living together, it will probably make things a bit more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo things are looking well for our girls. <3 Hope is finally moving in, which probably all of you have been waiting for. :D Let's see how they can navigate living together now. <3 Btw Mr. Pickering was inspired by this douchy guy I spoke to on the phone a few weeks ago. He was very mean... :D 
> 
> Thank you all for reading and for supporting! <3 I love all your comments and kudos, bookmarks, etc are much appreciated. You guys are amazing readers! <3 Stay safe, everyone!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys <3 Sorry for the wait... I was really busy at work and didn't have time to write. :(
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Hope is going to move into Lizzie’s old room today and Josie is absolutely ecstatic about that. She’s been super excited ever since Hope had told her that she’s taking her up on her offer a few days ago at the coffee place near Whitmore college. Having Hope live with her will allow Josie to spend so much time with the girl, which she had been craving for a while now, especially when Hope was avoiding her.

Josie misses her a lot and she can’t wait until the auburn-haired girl gets settled in, so that they could travel home together, cook anything they want, watch Netflix and just chill. The brunette would spend all her time with Hope if she had the opportunity to.

This might cause some issues with her feelings, of course. Josie is obviously dealing with this major crush that she has on Hope. Before they patched things up and she found out why the girl had been avoiding her, Josie was ready to confess her feelings, but now that they’ll be living together, she might just rethink that. It would make things very complicated.

Josie decides to wait for a while and see how things go between them. If they start getting out of hand and she can’t keep it together anymore, she will have no other choice but to confess to Hope. But she’ll try to live with her as just friends at first. Hopefully it won’t be that difficult.

For the past hour Josie has been working on one of her assignments for college. She has to write a 30 page report which is due in a couple of days and she just can’t seem to concentrate. The brunette is just way too excited that Hope is moving into the apartment in a couple of hours. She starts thinking about what it’s like to wake up in the morning and find Hope in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. She imagines herself just going near the auburn-haired girl and wrapping her arms around her waist, planting soft kisses along her bare shoulders. Josie bites her lower lip at the thought. She knows she shouldn’t think about her new roommate like that, but she just can’t help it. Hope Mikaelson has invaded her thoughts right now.

Josie imagines pinning Hope against the kitchen counter and kissing her passionately. She thinks about all the little sounds the other girl would make because of her. It would be music to her ears.

The brunette is snapped out of her thoughts by a notification she receives on her phone. She quickly unlocks it and sees that MG has texted her, asking how much of the assignment is completed. Oh, right... the assignment. A frustrated groan leaves Josie’s mouth as she remembers that she really needs to work on it right now.

But before she opens up the document, she decides to go on YouTube for about 10 minutes, to motivate herself. Usually she likes watching a video or two to get herself hyped up before doing something productive. So Josie loads the page and starts looking at the suggested videos on there.

There is one in particular that catches her attention. It’s about how to talk to a pretty girl, some tips and tricks or something.

Josie hums and decides to check it out, see what the people in the video will suggest. "This might just help me talk to Hope more easily."

She’s been having problems with her rambling a lot the past few days, but it’s only because she gets so nervous sometimes when she’s around the auburn-haired girl. It doesn’t help that Hope is insanely beautiful. Josie is just overall a complete nervous wreck around her.

The video starts out with some guy saying that everyone watching this video is a complete stud, but if they can’t pick up chicks because they’re shy, they should listen to his tips. Josie immediately feels like this video might not be for her, but she doesn’t change it.

The guy moves on to tip number one which encourages you to engage in a conversation with strangers.

"Oh, no…" Josie shakes her head. "Definitely not." She doesn’t really imagine herself ever doing that. The brunette couldn’t even talk to Hope before they got to know each other. She wasn’t the one who started their conversation. Thank god Hope is the more social of the two, or else they probably would’ve never spoken to each other at all.

The next tips that the guy gives is working on the overall appearance and practicing having a conversation when looking in the mirror. Josie thinks that she could definitely do those. Not that she needs to change her appearance. She thinks that there’s nothing wrong with it and that she looks decent for someone who spends so much time in front of the computer. She should definitely practice having a conversation with herself, though. Josie then decides to pause the video and go to the bathroom since there is a large mirror in there.

As soon as she looks at herself, Josie makes a little disgusted face, because her hair is messy and she seems as if she hasn’t slept for days. That’s kinda partially true, because she went to bed really late the night before. She was coding till like 4 AM and she really lost track of time, so she’s slept for about 3 hours.

"Okay, Josie, you can do this," the brunette tells herself and moves a bit closer to the mirror. "Hey there, cupcake!" Josie smirks and her voice is so damn flirty that she even surprises herself. She even adds in fingers guns to be smoother. It’s definitely very cringy and no girl would fall for that.

Josie then tries repeating the sentence a few times, changing the nickname to beautiful, gorgeous or baby, but it still seems unnatural to her. After about 5 minutes, she decides to just use Hope’s name.

"Hope, you look really beautiful today," she says while looking at the mirror. "I wish I could kiss you right now."

Ugh, god… Josie really cringes as soon as the words come out of her mouth. She hears her somewhat seductive voice and feels embarrassed, like if someone hears her, they’d die laughing. That’s how embarrassing she feels.

She wants to get better at talking, though, so she continues practicing in front of the mirror. Josie tries to be flirty and teasing. She ends up managing to say so many things that she never thought she’d be able to say out loud, which makes her feel good about herself.

After about 30 minutes of practicing, Josie goes back to her room and continues working on her assignment. She feels motivated not only to finish it, but to also be more confident when talking to Hope Mikaelson.

"I can do this! I won’t be so nervous when I talk to her next time!"

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hope finally gets her belongings into Lizzie’s old room that afternoon. Josie and MG are kind enough to help her move all her things, which she is very grateful for, and she plans to repay the favor once her business picks up again and she gets back on her feet. Baby steps, she keeps telling herself. She needs to be patient and things will work themselves out. So far everything is going great. Her event at the gallery is coming up soon and she’s very happy about that.

Hope is currently in her new room, unboxing her things and putting everything where she sees fit. The room is very spacious and the bed is far bigger than Hope is used to. There is a huge wardrobe and a desk, and of course, let’s not forget a lot of room for Hope to place all her art supplies like canvases, brushes, etc. The girl is definitely very pleased with everything.

A smile forms on Hope’s face as she takes out a few photo albums from one of the boxes at she is rummaging through. She wonders from what period the pictures in it will be. When she was younger her parents would take so many photos of her and themselves, especially when their relatives would come and visit for certain holidays. Hope was so happy at the time, because she was surrounded by people that loved her.

Hope opens up the album and starts looking through the photos in it. Her smile widens when she comes across a picture of herself as a baby, curled up in her mother’s arms and with her father and her uncle Elijah on each side. Hope feels so nostalgic at that moment and starts remembering her childhood. It wasn’t always the best because her parents didn’t have a lot of money, but it was a happy one. She was loved and that was the most important thing.

Hope is snapped out of her thoughts when she hears a faint knock on the door. She immediately turns around and her eyes catch sight of her new gorgeous brunette roommate at the doorframe, smiling at her in the warmest way possible. It just immediately takes Hope’s breath away.

"Hey, roommie," Josie says a bit teasingly, which makes the auburn-haired girl’s cheeks immediately heat up. Josie then walks inside the room and crouches down next to her. She takes a peak at the album and chuckles when she sees the pictures of baby Hope and her wonderful family. "You were a really adorable baby."

"Uhm, not that adorable," Hope says, her voice shy and she tries not to look at Josie at all because she feels so embarrassed.

"Come on! Look at those cute little cheeks." Josie pointed at baby Hope on one of the photos and chuckled again.

"Jo," Hope whined and smiled widely, still not looking at Josie. "Stop."

"Ohhh, you’re blushing. That’s so cute!"

"Okay, that’s enough photos!" Hope says and then quickly closes the album. She feels like she would die of embarrassment if they look at anything else inside the album.

"I love how embarrassed you get sometimes."

Josie is definitely very amused when she sees Hope being all shy. Usually it’s the other way around, because Hope tends to be the one teasing, but this time Josie decides to be brave and go for it. She had been practicing after all. Seeing Hope all embarrassed like that just makes Josie like the girl even more and she feels this incredibly need to continue teasing her.

"Yeah, well…" Hope rolls her eyes playfully. "You make me blush a lot."

Josie grins as soon as she hears that. She likes the fact that she has that effect on Hope, so she’s very pleased. "Good to know."

Hope doesn’t say anything at that. She stares down at the floor, not daring to look at Josie at all. After a few seconds of silence, Hope changes the subject by letting out a frustrated sigh. "Ugh, I have so many things to unpack."

Josie gently caresses the other girl’s shoulder. "Need any help?"

Her voice is so soft and filled with concern, making Hope feel like she’s about to melt. She loves how sweet Josie is and how she always offers her assistance whenever she needs it.

Hope finally looks at the brunette and tells her with a smile, "I would never say no to help from you."

For the next hour or so Josie and Hope end up unpacking lots and lots of boxes and rearranging things inside the room. Josie doesn’t mind helping Hope at all with unpacking, in fact, she enjoys it quite a lot, because it allows her to spend more time with the auburn-haired girl.

As they go through Hope’s belongings inside the boxes, they come across some very interesting things in there. For example there is a certain pair of pink fluffy handcuffs inside one of the boxes and Josie just doesn’t pass up the oppurtunity to tease Hope about that.

"Hope Mikaelson, you vixen," Josie begins with a devilish smirk on her face as she looks at Hope. "I had no idea you're into such kinky stuff."

Josie's voice is full-on teasing and it sounds very seductive. It honestly makes Hope feel turned on at that moment. She finds herself enjoying this new unfamiliar side of Josie quite a lot. Usually the brunette is a bit of a rambling mess, but now she’s acting so different and Hope doesn’t know why the sudden change happened, but she isn’t going to complain about it. Hope is very fond of Josie being a huge nerd, all shy and quiet, but she definitely finds herself very much attracted to this sexy and seductive side of the brunette. It definitely makes her want the other girl so badly.

But Hope knows that that’s all she’s going to get. They are roommates now and she shouldn’t even be thinking of Josie that way. It will mess up their friendship and also if something were to happen and they do start a relationship, a break up might result in Hope ending up on the streets. So anything other than friendship with Josie is off the table and Hope has to try and restrain herself. She’ll have to hold herself back and not allow herself to be drawn in by this astronomical pull that is Josie Saltzman, even if she does look and sound very sexy at that moment.

"The handcuffs were a gift from Penelope. She gave them to me in order to spice up my sex life. That’s how she put it at the time at least," Hope explains to the brunette, sounding casual, as if talking about this is not big deal. She doesn’t want to make Josie believe she will actually play along and make her think that she’s interested in her in that way.

Her words make Josie chuckle, because the image of Hope blushing in embarrassment flash immediately before her eyes. "So did it work?" Josie curiously asks. "I mean, did they spice up your sex life?"

"Honestly, not really..." Hope sighs and remembers how she actually tried using the handcuffs in the past with Landon, but it was a very tragic experience. She ended up handcuffing him to the bed with a blindfold over his eyes and everything. But then he got way too excited and let’s just say the experience didn’t last very long because he came too fast. Hope was very disappointed and when she tried to get the handcuffs off him, they were kinda stuck. So that was probably the worst sexual experience in her life.

"Well, there’s always time to change that," Josie just blurts out, as if suggesting something. Maybe, she kind of is.

Hope is really taken aback by the comment. "What’s gotten into you today, Jo?" she curiously asks the girl. "You’re acting different."

"I’m just in a mood," Josie says as her hand strokes the fluffy pink handcuffs. Hope definitely cannot stop herself from looking at the way the brunette gently moves her fingers over it.

Josie thinks this whole new braver vesion of herself is kinda working well. She even surprises herself that she manages to not stutter or ramble or look away from Hope. She’s definitely really into this. The brunette makes a mental note to give a thumbs up and subscribe to the guy whose video she watched for tips on how to talk to pretty girls when you’re shy. Maybe she’ll leave a comment even.

Hope clears her throat, trying hard not to think about the fact that Josie is in a mood, possibly a sexual one. She doesn’t want to think about the brunette being just as turned on as her at the moment. "This is the last box," she decides to change the subject.

"Ohh, I wonder if we’ll find more sex toys in there," Josie says and laughs out loud. She puts away the handcuffs and moves closer to get a better look at the contents of the last box.

"Nah, this is just a few more art supplies. I would need this for the Wine and Paint event," Hope explains, still sounding casual and as if Josie’s comment about the sex toys didn’t faze her. The brunette just hums in agreement without saying anything more about that topic.

"How many people have signed up so far?"

"I think about 5, which is great."

Josie smiles at the other girl and feels very proud that things are working out for her and her business. "That’s great, Hope! I hope a few more sign up."

"Do you wanna join by the way?" Hope suddenly asks a bit shyly without looking at the brunette.

"What?"

"The event, I mean. Do you want to join?"

Josie then slowly wraps her arms around the other girl and gives her body a gentle squeeze. "I would love to."

  
  


* * *

  
  


After Hope and Josie finish rearranging everything inside the room, the brunette says that she has to go see her grandma. It makes Hope a bit sad, because she wants to spend more time with Josie, but she doesn’t say anything about it. She just tells her to have a good time.

Once Hope is alone in the apartment she jumps on top of the couch in the living room, her phone in her hands. She then quickly unlocks it and smiles when she sees that she has a text message from Josie.

[4:30 PM] Josie: I miss you already <3

  
  


Hope’s smile gets even wider when she reads it. Josie misses her and tells her even though they were with each other just 5 minutes ago. It’s adorable in Hope’s opinion.

"Such a dork," Hope says out loud and chuckles. The girl then quickly types out a text message to Josie.

[4:31 PM] Hope: we just saw each other, Jo… :D

Hope shakes her head because she sees that Josie is already writing something. She comes to that conclusion because of the 3 dots that appear on the screen, indicating that she’s texting at the moment. "How fast…"

[4:32 PM] Josie: I don’t care :( I still miss you…

[4:32 PM] Josie: want me to get something on my way home?

When Hope reads the question she can’t help but think about how incredibly caring Josie is. No one has asked her something like that in years.

[4:34 PM] Hope: maybe get some dog food for Pongo? <3

Poor puppy is sleeping right now inside his little doggy bed which Josie surprised Hope with today. She had bought it especially for Pongo. It was so thoughtful and sweet of her to do.

[4:35 PM] Josie: of course <3

Before Hope can say anything more, her phone suddenly starts buzzing and Penelope’s picture appears on the screen. Her best friend is requesting a video chat. Without giving it a second thought, Hope answers and then a few seconds later, she sees Penelope’s face appear on the screen.

"Hey, Pen!" she cheerfully says and waves.

Penelope smiles widely before greeting Hope, "Hey, bitch! I missed you."

This is the second time someone has told Hope that they missed her today. It was nice and she feels like she can get used to the attention.

"I missed you, too…"

"So how’s it going?" Penelope asks her, her voice flirty as usual. "Did you and Josie finally hook up?"

Hope immediately rolls her eyes when she hears her best friend’s words. Of course Penelope is going to tease her about Josie.

"No, we’re just friends…"

Penelope looks at her in disappointment. "Oh, come on, Mikaelson…"

"Pen, I just moved into her apartment…"

Penelope gasps, "And you say you’re just friends?! You practically uhauled."

"I do like her, Pen, but we’re roommates now and it won’t be right if I make a move on her," Hope explains, but Penelope continues looking at her with that disappointed expression. "Oh, don’t look at me like that!"

"I just think you’re an idiot for not making a move on her already," Penelope states which makes Hope regret even picking up the video chat. "You two are so into each other, man…"

"No way, I don’t think she likes me like that," Hope argues with her best friend, as if the fact that Josie might have romantic feelings for her is the most unbelievable thing in the world. "She’s just very… friendly."

"That girl is drooling over you, Hope. I noticed it when I met her," Penelope continues. "You’re just too blind to see it."

Hope continues being stubborn as always and is not budging. When she has her mind set on something, she sticks to it. "I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I’m not making a move on her since she is not my roommate."

"Fine, do whatever you want." Penelope finally gives in, because she knows it’s a losing battle. "God, you’re so stubborn, Mikaelson…"

"You love me anyway," Hope tells her best friend, now smiling widely.

"I do, yes…"

"So, how’s Belgium?" Hope changes the subject from herself to Penelope for a change. They haven’t really talked much since the girl left. Only maybe once or twice, but for a little while and they couldn’t catch up properly.

"It’s great so far. I started working at this really cool night club and I’m meeting tons of chicks," Penelope enthusiastically says. "Man, I love the women here. They are absolutely gorgeous."

"I’m glad to hear that, Pen," Hope says, trying to sound enthusiastic as well, even though she isn’t. She really wishes that Penelope wasn’t in Belgium right now, but with her. It’s been hard not having her around, not seeing her as often as they used to.

Thankfully Penelope doesn’t pick up on that and continues telling Hope about some of her adventures over the last few days. Apparently, she hooked up with some chick whose boyfriend suddenly came home without any notice and caught them together. Hope felt bad for Penelope at that moment, because he didn’t take it so well.

"He didn’t even want to join us for a threesome," Penelope says, her voice filled with so much disbelief. "I mean who would turn down a threesome with 2 super hot chicks, right? Like, I wouldn’t have done anything with him, because he was kinda ugly, but like, he didn’t even ask. That was really unbelievable, you know? Like, who does he think he is?"

"I know right, what a douche," Hope plays along, being as dramatic as Penelope. "He totally missed out."

"Yeah, well, whatever…" Penelope shrugs and sounds indifferent now as she continues speaking. "I felt better because afterwards I hooked up with these 2 very hot girls that I met at a concert. They were blonde and fucking gorgeous. Oh and more importantly, they had no boyfriends."

Hope laughs loudly at what her best friend said. She misses Penelope so damn much and is so happy that they at least get to video chat every once in a while when they are not busy.

The two girls talk for a few more minutes and then hang up because Penelope has to go back to work. Because of the time difference it’s almost midnight in Belgium and Penelope had called her during her break. It made Hope sad that they didn’t get to talk for long, but at least they managed to for around 15-20 minutes, so that’s something.

Hopefully they’ll talk more next time...

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo Hosie are living together now!!! YAY! Wine and Paint event is coming up in the next chapter. Stay tuned :3
> 
> HOSIE CANON BTW! <3 HOSIE FUCKING CANON!
> 
> Thank you all for reading, commenting, leaving kudos and bookmarking! <3 I really appreciate you readers so much. ^-^


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

It’s the day of Hope’s event and Josie decides to go visit her grandma at the senior citizens home before heading off to the gallery. The brunette is excited she absolutely loves spending time with Liz and cannot wait to see her.

"Grandma!" Josie yells out in excitement the moment she walks inside Liz’s room and sees her grandma already at the table, setting up the chess pieces for both of them. The brunette then quickly makes her way to her and wraps her arms around the older woman’s body.

"My beautiful granddaughter, you’re very excited today," Liz comments with a smile on her face. "Does it have something to do with your new roommate?"

"You know me so well, grandma," Josie tells her and then sits down on the chair at the other side of the table. She smiles at her grandma widely, happy because the older woman mentioned Hope. "Only she can make my heart flutter like that."

Liz chuckles when she hears that. "How cute! My granddaughter is in love."

"I wouldn’t call it love, grandma," Josie says, looking away a little because she’s blushing. The mention of the word love makes her feel that way. "I’m just madly crushing on her and I don’t know what to do. Now that she’s my roommate, if I confess my feelings, it would complicate things so much…"

"Oh, Josie…" Liz sighs because she feels how conflicted her granddaughter is about what she should do. "I understand, but you shouldn’t hold yourself back, dear. If you really feel so deeply for her, you should tell her."

"I know, grandma, but I’m scared." Josie feels that worried feeling come back when she confesses to her grandma that she’s afraid of telling Hope how she feels. "What if she rejects me? What if things get awkward and she moves out? I just got her back after she was avoiding me and I’m afraid that things will get messed up again."

"Josie, life is all about taking risks," Liz explains to her granddaughter. "You can’t know unless you try. What if she actually feels the same way as you? What if things work out and you have a wonderful relationship together? You would never be able to truly experience life is you only hold yourself back. You need to put yourself out there no matter how afraid you might be."

Josie hears what her grandma is telling her and she knows that the older woman is right. She needs to stop being scared of taking chances, but the last time she did, she got really disappointed. The last time when she went to Hope’s gallery, ready to confess her feelings, she found out that Hope lied to her and was avoiding her, so Josie is scared of something like that happening again, of her being disappointed.

"I really hope that you’re right, grandma," Josie says with a slightly sad tone. Her mood kinda goes south pretty quickly because all her insecurities are resurfacing just like that.

"You listen to your granny, Josie," Liz firmly says and points her finger at the brunette, as if she’s educating her. "I might be old, but I still know a thing or two about romance."

Josie chuckles as soon as she hears the old woman’s words. "Of course, grandma."

The two then start playing their usual chess game. Josie feels so happy that she gets to spend time with her grandma every day. She rarely misses their daily meetings, because she knows that her grandma is old and who knows how much time the woman has left, so Josie tries too see her as much as possible. She loves her grandma deeply and wants nothing more than to make her happy.

As they are playing chess, the two women suddenly hear loud music coming from outside the room. It surprises them both because this usually doesn’t happen. Before they can get up and see what the commotion is all about, the door is suddenly opened, revealing Frank in a black suit, looking like a total hunk. He has a bouquet of flowers in one hand an a microphone in the other. The man then starts singing the cheesiest love song for Liz which brings tears to the old woman’s eyes.

Josie thinks that it’s beautiful how Frank would go out of his way to make such a grand gesture for her grandma. She can’t help but imagine her and Hope in such a situation. Maybe she could find the courage and do something as romantic as this someday for the auburn-haired girl, of course if by some miraculous turn of events  Hope doesn’t reject her when Josie finally decides to confess her feelings. 

Josie can see it now how she and Hope come back home one day and everything is set up in their apartment for the perfect romantic evening. Beautiful sensual music is playing to which Josie would sing along, there are rose petals everywhere, the apartment is dimly-lit by so many candles, making the atmosphere just perfect. Josie would love to experience something like that with Hope someday. She only needs to tell the girl how she feels about her and not be rejected.

Maybe someday…

A wide smile graces Josie’s beautiful face when she sees that her grandma is not sitting in front of her anymore, but is with Frank, swaying to the romantic music. She has her arms around him and her head is resting on his shoulder. Honestly, the sight is beautiful and Josie is really glad to see her grandma so happy.

After a few more minutes, Frank finally stops singing and things get quiet. He has a dorky boyish grin on his face as he looks at Liz and Josie can’t help but think that that man was probably very handsome when he was younger. He still looks good for his age now, but he was probably quite the charmer in Josie’s opinion and definitely had all the ladies flaunting over him.

"Frank, oh dear…" Liz happily exclaims as happy tears stream down her face. "I can’t believe you did this. This is so romantic."

His smile can’t possibly get any wider. "Anything for a beautiful lady like you."

"You two probably want to be alone right now," Josie says and starts getting up from her seat. "I have to go to Hope’s gallery anyway for the Wine and Paint event."

"Okay, darling," Liz tells her granddaughter and brushes the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. "Don’t forget what I told you. Life is all about taking risks and you won’t know unless you try. Tell that girl how you feel, Josie…"

"I will, grandma. I’ll think of something." Josie smiles at the older woman as she gets her backpack and heads for the door. "Thank you."

"No need. Just don’t be scared, Josie. I’m sure everything will be okay."

Josie nods her head and with one last smile, she leaves her grandma and Frank alone in the room. She is determined to confess her feelings to Hope now thanks to her grandma’s encouragement. The brunette just needs to find the right way to do it. She has time to think about a plan…

  
  


* * *

  
  


Everything in Hope’s gallery is set up for the Wine and Paint event. Josie helped the girl this morning so she could get everything ready in time. They put in 2 tables with multiple small blank canvases on them and art supplies. Of course, since it’s an event where you can also drink while you paint, there’s definitely lots of alcohol. A glass of wine is situated next to each canvas and there are extra bottles in case people want more.

Hope is pleased with how everything turned out. She put a big canvas with a painting at the front where everyone can see. Hope will explain to them how to recreate it. There is also a blank smaller canvas next to it, so she could paint and give instructions during the event.

Hope is satisfied with how everything looks and they are expecting around 10 people to participate in the event, including Josie of course. The gallery is small, so there’s not enough space for more than 10. The only problem is that Roman Sienna is one of the participants. Hope really doesn’t want to include him, but she can’t afford to turn down people. She really needs the money right now. Hopefully the boy won’t cause any trouble during the event.

Hope can’t wait to see Josie, though. She can just imagine the brunette attempting to paint with that cute pout on her face, especially if the work doesn’t turn out the way she expects, or how she’d squint her eyebrows when she’s trying to concentrate. Hope would have to try hard not to get distracted by Josie during the whole event.

Josie shows up at the gallery around 30 minutes before the start of the event and is in such an amazing mood after visiting her grandma. The girl enters the gallery with a big bouquet of flowers in her hands, just like how Frank had given one to her grandma.

"Hey, Jo!" Hope happily excaims as her eyes catch sight of the beautiful brunette. "Wow, those are some gorgeous flowers."

"Hey!" Josie says and smiles widely because Hope made a nice comment about the bouquet. "They’re for you actually."

Hope instantly feels the heat on her cheeks. She rarely receives flowers from anybody. "Really?"

"Yeah, of course…" Josie says like it’s the most normal thing in the world to bring Hope flowers.

"You shouldn’t have."

Hope is definitely very surprised, but she won’t refuse flowers ever. She loves them, especially now because they are from Josie. The brunette went out of her way to get them for her, so there is no way in hell that Hope would refuse the gift.

"I wanted to."

"I’ll go put them in a vase," Hope tells the other girl after taking the bouquet from her. She’s still blushing madly and can’t believe that all of this is happening. It makes her wish that she and Josie are actually dating and are not just friends.

Josie giving her flowers makes Hope wonder about a situation where if they were together as a couple for real whether Josie would do grand romantic gestures for her. Hope thinks that she probably would because Josie seems like a really romantic person. This also makes Hope wonder if Josie was like that with her exes. They’ve talked about them at some point when they were hanging out. Josie has mentioned to Hope that she’s dated some girl named Jade who was very controlling and tried isolating her from her friends whereas Hope has talked about Landon and his gambling problems. They haven’t really mentioned anything good about these past relationships. Overall the two have established that everyone they’ve dated in the past was very toxic and that they don’t really have luck in the love department.

While Hope goes inside the storage room to get a vase to put the flowers in there, Josie takes a look inside the gallery. She loves how everything is set up and feels proud that she and Hope put so much effort into this event.

Josie stops in front of the painting which they are going to recreate during the event. She finds it beautiful. It’s painted in warm colors and it portrays a cute little bird with a number of leaves and other shapes around it. Josie admires how beautiful it is and she can’t wait to see the way Hope will teach them how to paint it.

"You like it?" Josie is suddenly startled by Hope’s voice coming from behind her and jumps up a little. Hope places her hand on Josie’s shoulder reassuringly. "I’m sorry if I startled you."

"It’s alright. Don’t worry," Josie tells her and shakes her head. "The painting is beautiful, Hope."

Hope smiles as soon as she hears Josie’s response. She’s glad that the brunette finds her art beautiful. Honestly, Hope kind of wants to show off to Josie during this event and maybe impress her with her artistic skills.

Around 15-20 minutes later people start showing up and Hope tells them to take whichever seats they find most comfortable. Roman isn’t there yet and Hope isn’t surprised. He’s usually late.

The event begins shortly after and Hope starts off by introducing herself. "Hello everyone! My name is Hope and I will be your instructor for tonight's event," she greets everyone cheerfully. "I can guarantee that you are all in for a really special treat."

"Excuse me, this event is beginner friendly, right?" Hope is quickly interrupted by a man who looks like he's around 35 years old. He seems as if he's just come out of an accounting firm and wants to pick up painting as a hobby.

"Yes, of course. Even if you've never painted before or are just starting out, then you are in the right place," Hope says with a smile. "You're in a safe place, a place with alcohol." Everyone chuckles when they hear the word alcohol. "Alcohol makes painting so much more fun. This event is all about you guys having a good time. There won't be any negativity in here. Only positive vibes, okay?"

"Yeah!" Everyone yells out in unison which makes Hope's smile grow even wider.

"Okay, so I'm going to walk you through on how to create this painting that you see next to me," Hope starts telling them. "Since I want you guys to have fun, you don't need to make it exactly the same. You can change it up a bit, maybe switch up the color scheme or something else. It's entirely up to you. Every artist is different and has their own unique way of representing the work that they do and I will be so thrilled to see what you guys will create."

Hope then continues on explaining about the composition and the different brushes and paints that they will be using. People take a few sips of the wine next to them and listen to her carefully. She leaves out no details and presents everything as if it’s a beautiful story. Josie especially feels like she listen to her talk forever.

"Wow," Josie quietly blurts out to herself without anyone hearing her because she is just so mesmerized by Hope and the way she speaks in front of everyone. If Josie was crushing madly on her before, then she’s full on head over heels for her now. There’s just something so utterly attractive in the way Hope talks to an audience, in the way she explains everything and gives instructions.

They start off with painting the background first and Hope tells them how they can mix the colors. She shows them by doing a few brush strokes on the blank canvas next to her at first and then proceeds with coloring the whole thing. Josie tries to mimic whatever Hope’s doing, but ends up struggling a bit with the paints. Of course, the auburn-haired instructor notices that because who wouldn’t notice that cute pout on Josie’s face.

"You should add a little more red," Hope tells her as soon as she comes up behind her. Her voice sounds so soft and gentle, she’s bent over and her face is so close to Josie’s ear that the brunette feels like she’s about to faint.

"Uhh, thanks…" Josie gulps and awkwardly says.

Hope smirks and then starts looking around at the others as they paint. She helps out a few people who were also struggling. Once everyone has their canvases painted with the background color, Hope proceeds with the next step.

"Now we're going to bring out the medium brush and put it to good use," Hope tells everyone enthusiastically. This is her favorite part because she gets to paint amazing shapes and forms on the canvas. "So, before I start doing the leaves and the cool shapes in the background, which you really can go crazy on by the way, I want to mark out where the bird is going to be."

"Can we do something other than a bird?" a woman suddenly asks Hope. "They really freak me out."

"Of course you can. If you don't want to have a bird on your painting, you can put something else there. Whatever you want, it's up to you," Hope answers her question with a chuckle. "For the rest of you who are going to do a bird with me, just pick up some white paint with your brush. We are going to do two circles and a triangle. It's super easy, I promise!"

Hope then does just that and moves over to the canvas. She shows everyone where exactly she's going to paint the bird and does a big circle in the lower left side of the canvas. She explains how the paint isn't showing up completely white, but is blending in with the background color.

"I'm gonna make you so pudgy, Mr. Birdie," Josie quietly says and starts making the circle on the canvas. It looks more like an oval than a circle, but she doesn't care. The brunette likes it a lot.

"Be sure to leave some room on the bottom for its legs," Hope notes and continues filling up the circle. "Once you have the body, we're gonna do another smaller circle for the head and then a triangle for the tail."

As Hope makes the bird’s head, she suddenly hears the door to the gallery open and none other than Roman Sienna walk inside, looking cocky as always with his leather jacket and biker sunglasses.

"Sorry I’m late," the boy apologizes, probably for the first time in his life in Hope’s opinion.

"Take a seat, Roman," Hope tells him and then points to one vacant seat near the man that had asked her a question at the beginning of the event. "There’s one next to that gentleman over there."

Roman looks a bit upset because he was hoping that he could sit next to a pretty girl, but there are no vacant seats. He spots a few gorgeous women, including Josie, as he walks to the seat and pulls the chair back so he can sit down.

"So, what are we doing?" Roman asks loudly, of course, and Hope feels already annoyed by his behavior. Josie doesn’t fail to notice that too. She looks in the boy’s direction and imagines probably a thousand ways to kill him at that moment.

Hope goes near Roman and bends down a little so she could quietly give him some instructions without disturbing everyone’s work. Josie immediately notices how Roman’s eyes dart down to the auburn-haired girl’s cleavage and feels a wave of jealousy surge throughout her body. If only she could go there and wipe that stupid smirk off his face.

Once Hope is done giving him the instructions, she goes back to the canvas to paint the bird’s tail and Roman cannot take his eyes off her. It makes Josie feel even more jealous. She hates how he is looking at her as if she’s a piece of meat.

"So, I’m going to choose a space inside the bird’s body where my triangle is going to begin," Hope tells everyone and puts the tip of the brush inside the bigger circle. "Then I'm going to do his little tail like that."

She shows them exactly how to paint it and everyone who is following along mimics her actions. Josie does it a little bit aggressively because she feels so pissed off at the fact that Roman is at the event. She knew beforehand he was going to show up because Hope had told her, but she didn't think she would react this badly at him being there.

The tail of Josie's bird comes out rather big, but the girl doesn't care. It would be a unique breed in her opinion. "You'll be quite different, Mr. Birdie," Josie utters quietly as she starts coloring it.

"We're going to have so many different birds in here, in all sizes and shapes," Hope enthusiastically says to everyone. "We'll have a flock."

"I'll make my bird really pretty," Roman suddenly blurts out loudly in front of everyone. "Just like you!" He says this without feeling even an ounce of embarrassment.

Hope clears her throat and wants to roll her eyes at the comment, but stops herself. She just smiles at the boy and thanks him. When Josie sees that, she breathes in deeply. The brunette hates the fact that that jerk said that and maybe wishes that she could've been the one to compliment Hope, but she's way too shy to do anything like that. Josie is not cocky like Roman at all.

Thankfully Josie is snapped out of her thoughts by Hope speaking again. Ah that beautiful voice of hers that is music to the brunette's ears.

"Okay, so now we're going to leave the bird be. We're going to play with it later," Hope starts telling them. "This is just so we know we're doing the rest of the shapes around it."

Hope then starts washing her brush and explaining to the participants how they're going to mix up the colors a bit more for the rest of the shapes. She looks around to see whether everyone is finished with the bird and her eyes catch sight of Josie's pudgy one with the huge tail. Hope finds it rather adorable that the brunette painted it like that. She looks over at Roman who has now started talking to some woman and is asking her something inappropriate. Hope rolls her eyes at the sight and walks over there.

"Maybe after this even we can go to my place and I can let you paint on my body," Roman tells the poor woman and his words almost make Hope gag.

Before the woman can respond, Hope steps in and says, "If you need any assistance with your painting, please ask me. It’s what I’m here for."

Roman smirks and goes back to his seat without arguing. The woman he was previously kind of harrassing lets out a relieved sigh that Hope stepped in and saved her from having to reply to him.

"Maybe you can demonstrate for me personally how to properly paint this bird," Roman tells her with a flirty tone to which Hope just sighs and grabs his brush. The girl then makes two circles and a triangle with a few strokes.

"There," Hope says, trying not to sound annoyed, because it would leave a bad impression for everyone else. She tries to be as sweet and polite as she can. "Now you just have to fill them in."

"Thanks, gorgeous..."

Hope turns around and goes back to her canvas. She tries really hard not to cringe at the nickname. It sounds so horrible when he says it, so sleazy and disgusting. She would never feel this way if Josie was the one to call her that. If the brunette were to call her with any cute nickname, Hope would probably melt into a puddle. She would not only feel butterflies in her stomach, but a whole zoo. If only Josie would do that, though...

When Josie hears the nickname come out of Roman’s mouth, she squeezes the brush in her hand so hard that it starts trembling. She’s so annoyed by that guy. If she could just go up there and kiss Hope in front of him, just to show him that he should back of, then it would be perfect. Sadly, she’d never do that. The brunette doesn’t have the courage to do something as bold as that. She’s even having second thoughts to confessing to Hope now after all this jealousy and seeing how Roman acts towards her.

Josie is a bit intimidated by him if she has to be honest. He’s a good looking guy and he’s probably really good in the sex department, so he’ll be able to please Hope. Some women like cocky men like him and even though Hope has told Josie that she finds him really annoying, the brunette can’t help but start overthinking.

Josie is worried that maybe Hope might develop feelings for him. Some women like annoying guys like that and they can’t stop thinking about them. Josie wonders if Hope is one of those women.

"So, now we’re going to blend in some red and some white to make pink," Hope tells everyone enthusiastically, which snaps Josie out of her thoughts immediately. The auburn-haired girl is trying to seem professional and as if she is not terribly annoyed by Roman’s presence. A sigh leaves Josie’s mouth and she starts mixing up the colors like Hope does.

"Do we still use the medium brush?" Hope hears one of the participants ask her.

"Yes," she immediately answers. "You can also add a little bit of yellow to make kind of a coral or salmon kind of color. You can really play around with them and mix however you like if you don’t want the same one as mine."

After that Hope starts painting the leaves on the canvas. She also starts mixing up other colors and explains to the participans how it is good to not do it all the way so the color can have a cool streaky look on the canvas. She then proceeds with telling them how to do the rest of the shapes.

"The flowers over here are just plain circles, you can do them or maybe come up with your own original idea if you want."

"Can I paint you and-?" Roman blurts out but before he can finish what he was saying, Hope interrupts him.

"Like I said before, you can paint them as whatever you want. It’s your artwork…" Hope tries to sound as polite as ever, but if someone were to listen more closely, they can pick up on how annoyed she actually is.

The rest of the event goes rather smoothly with almost no comments from Roman. Hope walks around to see everyone’s artwork and is very pleased with how most of them turned out, especially Josie’s. She absolutely adores the brunette’s cute painting and makes a mental note to praise her after the event. Everyone’s wine glasses are empty. Most people drank a couple of them, especially Hope, because it helped her deal with Roman more easily.

When the event ends, Hope bids everyone except for Josie goodbye since she and the brunette are heading home together. Roman  unfortunately tries to stay behind and make even more flirty comments,  even when Hope tells him that she’s going to close and head home. 

"Don’t you want to hang out with me, Hopey?" Roman asks her, his voice as playful as ever. If it were any other girl, she’d be all over him by now. "I can take you back to my place and-"

"Sorry, but my roommate here and I need to head back," Hope quickly interrupts him and waits to see the look of disappointment on his face.

That doesn’t happen though, because his expression  stays as smug as ever. With a smirk on his face, he  begins speaking again, "What if you both come with me? I wouldn’t mind a threesome."

"We really need to be heading home," Josie finally steps in. She is fuming and you can tell how mad she is by the ways she says those words. She is definitely angrier than Hope has ever seen her. "Now if you don’t mind, please leave."

Josie is practically kicking him out of the gallery to which Roman laughs and puts his hands up as if surrendering. "Alright, alright," he tells her. "I’m going."

"Bye, Roman," Hope says loudly, still annoyed about everything that that guy did during the event. "I hope the door hits you on the way out."

Laughing again, he then makes his way to the exit of the gallery. "I’ll see you around, Hopey. Don’t miss me too much."

As soon as Roman finally leaves, both Hope and Josie sigh in relief that he’s gone.

"He’s so infuriating," Hope complains as she sits down.

"Yeah, I know. I felt like ripping his head off throughout the event."

Hope lets out a frustrated sigh before saying, "Let’s not talk about him anymore. I’m getting more annoyed if we continue. Tell me what you thought of the event. Did you enjoy it?"

Josie smiles when she hears Hope’s question. "Yeah. It was amazing, Hope. You were absolutely wonderful and I actually learned a lot."

Hope immediately blushes when she hears that. "I’m glad. You did a great job on your painting by the way," she says with a shy voice.

"Thank you, but I had a bit of trouble with the brushes. I don’t know. I guess I’m not holding them properly or something. It was a bit difficult for me to make the shapes," Josie explains to which Hope lets out a chuckle.

The auburn-haired girl then gets up and grabs Josie’s hand before she starts dragging her back to Josie’s previous seat at the table so they could look at her painting. "Come on, I’ll show you how to hold them."

Josie is a bit shocked at the sudden act, but she follows Hope. "Uhh… okay."

They end up in front of the painting with Hope behind the brunette, her front pressing against the other girl’s back and her arms around Josie’s body. She then gently grabs one of the brushes and puts it into the brunette’s hand. Hope’s fingers gently brush against the girl’s as she shows her how to properly hold it, sending shivers down her spine and making her experience those damn butterflies in her stomach. Josie feels so hot because of how close Hope’s body is to hers and she definitely enjoys the auburn-haired girl’s boobs pressing against her back.

"Just like that, yeah…" Hope softly whispers and Josie tries to stop herself from moaning when she feels the girl’s hot breath on her ear. Hope then uses her hand to guide Josie’s and help her make a few strokes on the canvas.

"Wow, that feels really easy," Josie tells her honestly, her voice shaking a little as she speaks.

"Yes, you’re good, Jo. You’ll become a pro in no time."

"Well, I have a good teacher."

Hope feels so flattered when she hears the compliment. The auburn-haired girl then pulls back and watches how Josie makes a few more strokes on the canvas.

"By the way, we should probably head out or else we might miss the last bus," Hope informs the brunette.

"Oh…" Josie says, sounding a little disappointed. She kind of wants to continue painting because it’s actually really fun and she likes being there alone with Hope.

Hope picks up on it of course. "Don’t sound so disappointed," she quickly tells her with that soft gentle voice of hers. "We can paint more when we get home, okay?"

"I’d love that."

Both girls then quickly close up the gallery and head off to the bus stop, ready to go back home to their shared apartment. The shit that went down with Roman is forgotten for the moment and the only thing the two girls are thinking about is each other and how it’s getting really hard to keep their feelings hidden at this point. They might just decide to confess really soon….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is bigger than usual. I kinda got really into it, lol :D :D :D Roman pissed me off btw as I was writing this... hahaha :D It's getting harder for Hosie to keep their feelings in, so stay tuned to see what happens next. <3 
> 
> Thank you all so much for keeping up with this story and giving your support through comments, kudos, etc... I really really appreciate it! <3


	13. Chapter 13

Two days after the Wine and Paint event Hope decides to go to New Orleans to visit her parents, much to Josie’s dismay. It’s Klaus and Hayley’s anniversary and Hope really wants to surprise them. Of course the surprise doesn‘t just include their daughter showing up out of the blue, but also a painting that Hope had made for them. She had wrapped it up and made it into a beautiful present. Hope couldn‘t bring it with her on the bus, obviously, so she ended up hiring a delivery service to get it to New Orleans and to her parents‘ address at an exact date and time. The auburn-haired girl made it so it would arrive 2 hours before she is in New Orleans, so her parents would think that that‘s the only thing they‘ll get from her and won‘t possibly expect her to just randomly drop by unannounced at the house.

As Hope is traveling to her hometown, she stares out the window and her mind drifts off to Josie, the beautiful brunette who she is so used to sitting on the seat next to her, who rambles about her geeky computer stuff and who Hope finds just absolutely incredible. She wonders what Josie is doing at this time and whether she misses her  just as much as she does . It‘s around 11 AM so she knows that Josie is probably in class but Hope wonders whether she is listening intently to the professor and taking notes or if she is answering questions. Being the cute nerd that Josie is, Hope believes that both options are highly likely but maybe the second one is more probable. She smiles to herself as she imagines Josie enthusiastically raising her hand and wanting to answer every single question thrown her way. Hope just adores that about her so much, how enthusiastic she is about learning and participating in class, how excited she gets whenever a new topic is mentioned. She hasn‘t really seen what Josie is actually like during class but the brunette has told her with great detail about it, so Hope has a pretty good idea. 

Honestly, Hope was kind of a loner in school and would always sit in the back  row . She didn‘t really put that much effort into her schoolwork and only focused on things she enjoyed like art for example. The girl chuckles as she thinks about what it would‘ve been if her and Josie were in high school together, sharing the same class. As much as Hope wants to believe it, they probably wouldn‘t have sat next to each other. Hope would‘ve probably just stared at Josie throughout every class and not paid attention because let‘s face it... the brunette is a huge distraction.

As the bus gets close to New Orleans, Hope lets out a relieved sigh that she would get off soon. She takes out her phone and looks through her last text messages with Josie. They‘re nothing special but every heart emoji and every sticker that Josie had sent in the chat makes Hope‘s heart just flutter. 

God, she really wishes that Josie‘s here with her. She had asked Josie if she wanted to come along to New Orleans with her, but the girl had some important presentation to do for college and she unfortunately couldn’t join her. It made both of them feel very sad because they would be apart for a few days. They had gotten so used to seeing each other every day that it would feel weird now that they would be apart for a while.

As Hope gets off the bus at the New Orleans bus station, she immediately grabs her luggage and quickly starts looking for a taxi. The bus station is a bit far away from the house so she doesn‘t have that much of a choice. The only other option is public transport which Hope definitely doesn‘t want to use while carrying so much luggage.

She manages to locate a vacant cab and begins moving towards it as quickly as she can. The girl is in a hurry because she absolutely hates carrying luggage and wants to reach her parents’ place as fast as possible.

The cab driver notices her and gets out of the car to help her put the luggage in the trunk, which Hope is really grateful for. As soon as she gets inside the car, she tells the man the address and he starts driving.

Hope immediately feels a wave of nostalgia hit her when they drive along the streets of New Orleans. It’s been so damn long since she’s been back, to the point where it’s like she has forgotten how the city looks like. She missed it a lot.

About 15 minutes later, the cab driver stops the car in front of Hope’s childhood home. The auburn-haired girl pays him and then both get out of the car so she can get her luggage. She thanks the man as soon as he hands her her things and when he drives off, Hope takes out her phone and gives her mother a call.

"Hope!" she hears her mother say her name excitedly. "Your gift is lovely, sweetie. Your father and I love it."

"I’m glad to hear that, mom," Hope tells her with a wide smile on her face as she thinks how her parents would be even more excited when they see her in front of their house.

"Absolutely wonderful, Hope. You are so talented and you make us very proud. It‘s just such-" 

"Mom!" Hope cuts her off. "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, sweetie. What is it?"

"Can you, like, let me in the house?" Hope casually asks, not even trying to contain her grin. 

Her mom is silent for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what Hope had told her. 

"What? Our house?" she asks, her tone confused because why would her daughter be in front of the house, she hasn‘t visited them in many years.

"Well, if you know any other one with the name Mikaelson written on the door..."

Hope hears a joyful squeal from the other side of the line and then how her mother hangs up. The front door to the house is then opened a few seconds later. Hope sees her mom sprinting towards her and screaming in joy like a deranged fangirl before wrapping her arms around her daughter and almost tackling her to the ground.

"Oh my god, I can‘t believe you‘re here!" Hayley yells out in joy. 

Hope smiles and gently moves her hand along her mom‘s back. She is definitely happy to be back too. 

"What‘s all this commotion?" Both of them hear the loud voice of Klaus Mikaelson coming from the entrance of the house. 

"Look who‘s here, Klaus!" Hayley tells him and the man‘s eyes immediately widen when he sees his beautiful daughter before him. 

"Hope!" he says with so much joy in his voice and moves closer so he could hug his daughter.

"Dad!" the girl happily exclaims and immediately lets him hug her.

She had missed this, both her parents lovingly embracing her. The girl hadn’t seen them in such a long time so it was so comforting to be in their presence now.

"Littlest wolf," her father softly says with all the love he could muster up, making Hope smile at the cute nickname he’s used for her ever since she was a young child.

"We missed you so much," her mother tells her as soon as Klaus pulls away and gently squeezes her shoulder in such a comforting way that Hope immediately feels all her worry drain away. Her smile is so loving and it makes Hope feel so warm inside.

Klaus Mikaelson grabs his daughter’s luggage and quickly starts walking towards the house. "Let‘s get inside. Hope, you must be hungry from travelling for hours," he says with a wide grin on his face, happy that his daughter is finally home.

"Oh, I definitely wouldn‘t refuse a homemade meal."

  
  


* * *

  
  


Josie smiles widely when she walks out of her Information Systems Design class. She had just given out a presentation and it went perfectly, so the girl is very pleased with herself. Professor Stevenson, this short curly-haired woman that looks like the actual Devil, smiled at her. Josie couldn’t believe it at the time but it definitely gave her a boost of confidence during the presentation.

Professor Stevenson is well-known around Whitmore college as the most ruthless lecturer who always asks millions of questions and makes you feel like shit if you can’t answer even one of them, so receiving a smile from her is an absolute honor in Josie’s opinion.

The brunette quickly takes out her phone and opens up the chat with Hope. She’s the first person that Josie wants to tell about this accomplishment of hers. She scrolls through the messages and starts typing something, but stops midway when she remembers that Hope is with her parents at the moment. Josie wonders if maybe she shouldn’t text right now and just wait for Hope to text her because she doesn’t want to disturb her quality time with her parents.

"What’s got your mind so occupied there, Jo?" Josie hears the voice of her best friend and feels his arm around her shoulder. He leans in to look at her phone’s screen and sees the chat with Hope. "Oh, got it. Thinking about your future girlfriend."

Josie huffs and pushes his arm away, "I wish she was my girlfriend. I feel like I’m just fooling myself and she’s just being friendly with me. Plus, now we can’t spend any time together for a couple of days because she’s hundreds of miles away in New Orleans."

The two start walking outside the main building, totally in sync and knowing exactly where they’re headed – Mania, the gaming club near Whitmore college, the one they always go to when they have an hour or more between lectures.

"I don’t know, Jo…" MG tells her and Josie sighs in frustration.

Ever since the gallery event and seeing how Roman acted with Hope, Josie has been a lot more determined to show the girl exactly how she feels. The brunette started dropping a lot more hints that she likes Hope as more than a friend, tried being more playful and flirty, and sometimes Hope plays along, but she doesn’t know if it’s just friendly for her of if there is something more there.

"It sucks not knowing how she feels MG. It just drives me crazy."

MG understand what Josie is going through completely because he’s went through it himself with a couple of girls who led him on. The boy doesn’t think that Hope is leading his best friend on, but you never know. He just hopes that Josie won’t get hurt in the end.

"I know…"

Another frustrated sigh escapes Josie’s mouth as they reach the gaming club. "Whatever. Let’s go and play some games so I can kick your ass."

"You wish, Jo!"

The two best friends quickly walk inside the gaming club and they immediately wave at one of the employees there. They’re frequent visitors, so everybody knows them. Plus, they really kill it at all the games and set the best high scores that other players can barely beat.

"MG, Josie! Over here!"

They hear Kaleb call out their names loudly and frantically wave with his arm so they could see him.

"Oh no…" Josie mutters under her breath.

MG looks at Josie apologetically. "I know what you’re going to say…"

"This is all your fault, MG. You invited him with us last time. Now we’re stuck with him…"

"Relax, relax…"

MG and Josie quickly stop talking and smile in the most fake and forced way possible when they see Kaleb approach them.

"Hey, guys…" Kaleb greets them and brings them in for a group hug, a very very awkward group hug for Josie. When he pulls away, he continues speaking again. "Thanks for bringing me here last time. This place is awesome!"

"Yeah, man. I don’t know how you’ve never been here before. It’s like you’ve been living under a rock or something."

Josie rolls her eyes because it’s obvious why Kaleb has never been to this place. He isn’t a gamer at all. Which is why she is so surprised that he agreed to come with them last time and why he is here again now. Josie wonders if he has some ulterior motive. Maybe he needs help with an assigment or a group to join for one of their shared classes. It would make sense.

"I don’t know man, but I’m glad you showed it to me," Kaleb says with a smile and starts pulling MG towards the vacant beanbag chairs. Josie follows behind them as Kaleb continues talking. "By the way, do you guys have a group for Peterson’s class?"

Josie rolls her eyes as soon as she hears the question. Of course she was right and Kaleb has an ulterior motive for being here.

"Well, uh-" MG is about to tell him that they’re free, but before he can answer, Josie quickly cuts him off.

"Actually, we do have a group already. I’m sorry, Kaleb…"

The boy seems disappointed when he hears that, which makes Josie mentally scream in joy.

"Oh…" he says and sighs. "Alright then."

"Sorry, man…" MG tells him and feels guilty that Josie had lied to him, but he knows that it’s for the best, because they really hate working with Kaleb. The boy doesn’t do any work and is very unreliable.

"No worries," Kaleb says and then pats MG on the shoulder. "Alright, I gotta run, guys. It was nice seeing you."

Before MG or Josie can say anything, Kaleb is out of the gaming club. Now it became even more apparent that he was there just so he could try to be in their group for the class.

"Well, that was weird…" MG says, a bit confused because of the way Kaleb was acting.

Josie sits down on one of the beanbag chairs and grabs a controller. "Whatever, let’s play…"

MG settles in next to her and grabs the second controller. "You’re on, Jo!"

  
  


* * *

  
  


"Mom, the food is so delicious!" Hope says and takes another bite of the amazing chicken stew that her mother had prepared. She absolutely loves everything that her mom cooks, but this is by far her favorite dish. She’s loved it ever since she was a child. Most times when she used to come back home from school, she’d have it waiting for her on the table and all her worries would automatically fade away.

Hayley smiles when she sees that her daughter is enjoying herself. "I’m glad you like it, sweetie!"

This infamous chicken stew is a very special recipe and the woman has always been very proud of it because it has been passed down through generations of Marshall women. Her grandma taught her own mother how to cook it who had eventually taught her. Someday she’s going to teach Hope how to prepare it so she could make it for her own children.

"You outdid yourself this time, Hayley," Klaus praises her as well as soon as he takes a bite of the food. He’s usually a very picky eater, but has always enjoyed Hayley’s cooking. In fact, it was one of the things that won him over and made him want to make her his wife.

As Hope smiles and continues eating, she suddenly starts thinking about how if Josie were there they could enjoy the food together. She would love to share this with the brunette. Hope wonders how her presentation went and what she’s doing at the moment and has the sudden urge to just take her phone out of her pocket and text Josie.

Hope notices that her parents are engaged in some sort of conversation, so she takes this opportunity to pull out her phone. She sees that Josie hasn’t texted her but has been online 5 minutes ago. The auburn-haired girl contemplates whether she should send her a message or not. Scrolling through the chat, she sees some of the cute texts that they’ve sent each other and smiles so widely. This of course doesn’t fail to get noticed by her parents.

"What’s got you all smiley?" Hayley asks her daughter with a teasing tone which makes Hope immediately lock her phone and put it back in her pocket without sending Josie anything.

The auburn-haired girl blushes and looks at her food. "Nothing…"

"I think our daughter is in love, don’t you think so, Klaus?" Hayley turns to the man who almost chokes on his food the moment he hears that his daughter might be in love. After all these years, he still has a hard time accepting that fact, that his little girl is all grown up now.

"You’re not back together with that bird boy, right?" Klaus immediately fires, making Hope panic.

"No, no. Dad, no…" Hope quickly says and frantically moves her hands. "Landon and I have been over for a long time. Don’t worry."

"Good. I never liked him and that bird nest he calls hair."

"You really could’ve done so much better, honey," Hayley jumps in, making Hope roll her eyes.

"How could I have known that he would be such a trainwreck?" Hope pouts cutely before taking yet another bite of her food. "He lost so much money gambling that at one point I felt like he would go rob a bank or something just so he could continue playing..."

Klaus laughs at the thought of that whimp doing anything of that sort. "The boy was a complete loser."

"So tell us about this new person who’s got you all smiley?" Hayley changes the topic, her voice still as teasing as ever.

"It’s just a stupid crush really. I mean, I don’t know…" Hope starts explaining the way she feels about Josie as best as she can. She doesn’t really know herself to what extent her feelings for the brunette go and whether anything more than friendship can actually happen between them in the future. "Her name is Josie and I met her on the bus that I take to get home every day. Well, uh… technically we started talking when we were at the bus stop and the bus didn’t arrive this one time. She’s just so perfect, so beautiful and smart and funny, and is this total nerd. I absolutely adore when she talks about computer stuff that I don’t understand and her eyes. They’re this really beautiful brown color that makes me just want to stare at them all the time. They remind me of chocolate and-"

"Sounds like it’s a lot more than a stupid crush if you ask me," Hayley comments and interrupts Hope’s little confession.

Klaus smiles widely and chuckles. "Our daughter really is in love from what I hear."

"No, I don’t think I love her. I mean, I wouldn’t call it that. We’re just friends, well… roommates currently because I moved in with her since her sister went to go live with her boyfriend or something and I don’t know. I guess we just, I feel like we’ve been flirting, like we’ve had moments, but I’m not sure if they are just friendly or if there’s something more there. She confuses me so much…"

"I think you should tell her how you feel with a grand gesture!" Klaus suggests. "It’s what a Mikaelson does!"

"I’m scared that if I tell her how I feel and she rejects me that things will get weird. I just moved in with her. I don’t want to ruin whatever it is we currently have."

"Hope, don’t listen to your father." Hayley shoots him a glare. "I think you should wait and observe her more. Try to flirt and give her hints and see how she reacts. I’m sure that you will know if she likes you as more than a friend. You’re a smart girl. You just need to open your eyes and look harder into the details."

"I guess you’re right…"

Before anyone can say anything else, her dad’s phone starts ringing. The man grunts as soon as he looks at the phone screen. It’s his sister Freya calling him and he definitely doesn’t want to speak to her at the moment. The man hangs up and then grabs his utensils so he could continue eating.

Hayley looks at him before asking, "Who was that?"

"Freya…" he responds with a low voice, seemingly not wanting to talk about this.

"Are you guys still not talking? How long are you going to keep this up?"

Klaus sighs in frustration. "I won’t speak to her until she apologizes to me."

Hope looks confused and doesn’t understand what’s happening. "What happened? Why are you and aunt Freya not speaking?"

"She won’t let me babysit my own nephew. Says that I’m spoiling him way too much," Klaus answers his daughter’s question, looking upset as her remembers his fight with Freya a few days ago. He had bought little Nik some ice cream and he wouldn’t want to eat his dinner afterwards, which made Freya mad. They had a fight and Freya told him that from now on she’s going to get Elijah to babysit because he doesn’t let Nik have ice cream before dinner.

"You do spoil him…" Hayley says, making Hope remember how when she was little her dad used to do anything in his power to make her feel like she has everything. Even though they didn’t have that much money as other families, Hope never felt like there was something missing. It was all thanks to Klaus who constantly spoiled her by getting her what she wanted through all means necessary. If he couldn’t, he’d find some sort of affordable alternative which was enough to please Hope.

"It was just ice cream…"

Hope and her mom laugh when they see how fired up Klaus is getting about this. It’s a little funny how he acts like a child when something doesn’t go his way. The man throws a fit and then doesn’t talk to you until you apologize and admit that you’re wrong.

"I’m sure Freya didn’t mean it. She’d definitely let you babysit again," Hope tells her dad with a smile on her face. "Please, call her and make up."

"Alright. Anything for you, Littlest Wolf."

Klaus cannot refuse his daughter anything. She’s definitely his weak spot.

  
  



	14. Chapter 14

Hope has been having a wonderful time in New Orleans with her parents. She also got to see her aunts Freya and Keelin. Her dad finally made up with his sister after that stupid argument they had. Unfortunately she  won’t be  able to  spend time with the rest of her family because her uncle Kol and aunt Rebekkah  are currently  traveling abroad. 

Overall her experience  has been perfect so far. Well, let’s say almost perfect. The only thing missing  is Josie. There have been so many moments when she wished that the girl was with her. She wants to experience everything with her, absolutely everything, and it sucks that Josie is so many miles away from her. 

They’ve been texting at least. Hope has been sending her random pictures throughout the day and Josie would always respond with so many emojis. Hope finds that so incredibly adorable. In the morning she sent her a picture showing her in bed, covered with the cute fluffy blankets that she’s had since she was very young and Josie sent her what looked like thousands of heart emojis. Hope absolutely loves how goofy Josie is when she texts.

Hope is currently roaming around the streets of New Orleans with her parents and aunt Freya. There is some sort of festival going on and they have decided to check it out. It’s pretty awesome so far in Hope’s opinion. There are a lot of merchants who have set up tables with really cool  things that people can buy, so Hope and her family are taking their sweet time looking around. 

Hope definitely wants to buy something for Josie, maybe some souvenir or anything from New Orleans that the girl might enjoy. So she’s carefully looking at absolutely everything people are offering, so she could get the perfect gift for the brunette. 

"Mom, what do you think she might like? There are so many things and I’m not sure what to choose?" Hope asks her mother as soon as they stop in front of probably the 20th table so far. 

"You know her better than I do, Hope," her mother tells her with a chuckle.

"I mean, yeah, I do, but I’d still like your opinion or something."

Hayley hums and thinks about what a young woman in her 20s might like as a gift. "What about a bracelet or a necklace? Do you know if she likes jewelry?" 

"I think so. Okay, yeah… that’s an idea." Hope sighs as she continues looking through the things. There are some little plates with New Orleans written on them, signs, some animal figurines. 

"I’m sure that she’ll love whatever you get her, Hope. It’ll be special to her because it’s from you…"

Hope smiles as soon as she hears her mother’s words and thinks about how Josie’s eyes would light up when she receives a present from her, and how she’ll probably throw her arms around her and scream in joy. It would be such a cute and adorable sight. 

Hayley goes off to another table nearby when Hope reaches a section on the table with jewelry. The auburn-haired girl’s eyes immediately catch sight of a talisman which looks magnificent. The girl picks it up to take a closer look and feels mesmerized by it. She could definitely see Josie wearing something like that. It’s definitely her style.

"That talisman is magical, you know," the old merchant lady tells her unexpectedly, making Hope jump a little. 

"Oh," she says and looks at her a bit confused. "How so?"

"It’s said that whoever wears it will find the love of their life," the woman explains with a sparkle in her eyes, as if she’s told this story millions of times. "Legend has it that it can make quiet things heard and when wearing it, the owner’s heart will be able to call out to their soulmate’s, so they can be reunited in the current lifetime they’re in."

Hope doesn’t really believe in all this magic crap, but the story seems very interesting and she loves the idea behind it. She imagines her and Josie as soulmates and the moment the brunette puts it on she immediately knows that Hope is the love of her life, the one she is destined to be with for all eternity. She smiles widely as that idea passes through her mind. 

"That’s pretty amazing. How much for it?"

"I’ll give it to you for free, dear," the old woman says with a smile on her face. "You seem like you would give it to someone very special. I’d like for you to have it."

Hope is hesitant at first. She feels a bit uncomfortable taking something like this for free, especially when it looks so valuable. 

"Are you sure?" she asks the woman, ready to give her money. 

"Please, I insist."

Hope puts away the cash when she sees that the woman won’t take it and thanks her for the talisman. "You’re very kind. Thank you so much."

The girl then starts looking around for her mother, so she could show her the gift that she got for Josie. When her eyes finally catch sight of her in the crowd, Hope makes her way towards her, the smile never leaving her face.

"Mom, look what I got!" Hope tells her mother excitedly.

Hayley  absolutely adores how joyful the girl looks. "I’m sure she’ll love it," she tells, hyping her daughter up even more.

Hope is absolutely ecstatic and cannot wait to see Josie again and give her the gift. She wants to make the other girl happy and show her how much she cares about her, but also, deep down Hope can’t stop thinking about the old merchant lady’s words. Maybe she is somewhat hopeful that she and Josie might be soulmates and when the girl puts the talisman on she’ll confess her undying love for Hope or something, that her heart will reach out and they’ll fall madly in love with each other.

  
  


* * *

  
  


"We’ve been texting for the past few days, grandma," Josie explains and moves one of the chess pieces on the board in front of her. She’s at the senior citizens home as usual and is telling Liz all about what’s been going on between her and Hope. 

"Why haven’t you told her how you feel yet?" Liz asks curiously, as if the fact that Josie hasn’t confessed her feelings is the most shocking thing in the world. "I thought you were going to tell her a few days ago…"

"I was, grandma, but I don’t know…" Josie sighs and thinks about how brave she felt before the Wine and Paint event at Hope’s gallery. She was so ready to confess her feelings, but then the whole thing with Roman happened and Hope was being impossibly close to her when giving her tips on how to hold a brush, which made Josie so so nervous. They were even painting together at home afterwards and the words were on the tip of her tongue, but Josie just couldn’t say them. She just chickened out when it was time to take some action. "I got nervous, grandma. I’m such a coward."

"Oh my poor granddaughter," Liz says as she looks at the younger girl sympathetically. 

"I have to think of a plan about how to tell her how I feel. Maybe I should do some sort of surprise or something when she gets back? But that might be too overwhelming for her and I definitely don’t want to overwhelm her. What if I take her out somewhere and then-"

Liz immediately interrupts her granddaughter. "Josie, you’re thinking too much. There is no perfect time for you to confess. If you keep waiting, that time will never come."

"You’re right, grandma…"

"Of course I am. You should listen to your grandma! I know best," Liz confidently says, making Josie chuckle.

As the two continue playing chess, they suddenly hear someone walk inside the room. Both turn around and see Frank with a big bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. Josie  stares at him with a surprised expression but her grandma doesn’t seem too fazed and turns her head back to the game. 

"Liz, please…" Frank tells her and moves closer. "Please, forgive me!"

Josie thinks all of this is so dramatic, especially when afterwards the man gets down on one knee in front of her grandma.

"Give those horrible flowers and cheap chocolates to Susan. You seem to love spending all your time with her nowadays anyway," Liz angrily tells him and waves her hand to signal for him to get away from her.

Josie stares at the sight before her and maybe seems a little bit sorry for Frank. She knows her grandma’s side of the story and she thinks that it’s prepostorous that she’s jealous of him spending time with Susan. She doesn’t think there’s anything wrong if the man socializes, but apparently her grandma is so unbelievably jealous and thinks he’s cheating on her.

"Please, Liz. Susan doesn’t mean anything to me. You’re the one I want!"

"Grandma, give him a chance. I think he’s telling the truth," Josie jumps in, defending Frank. "He went to all this trouble to beg for your forgiveness and he seems sincere."

"Yes, I am sincere, Liz. Susan and I are just friends, nothing more…"

"I don’t know if I can trust you, Frank…"

Josie feels as if she’s watching a really bad soap opera.

"I love you, Liz! So much…" Frank tells her with tears in his eyes, holding the bouquet in a super dramatic way. "Trust me. You’re the most important thing in my life."

No, this is even worse than a bad soap opera.

Liz sighs loudly and takes the flowers and chocolates from the man. "Alright. I forgive you. You’re lucky that you’re such a romantic man, Frank."

He grins and moves closer to give Liz a kiss, which makes Josie immediately think that this is her cue to leave. 

"Okay, I’m heading out now," the brunette informs them but her grandma and Frank don’t seem to pay attention to her. 

The girl shakes her head and smiles. She wishes that she and Hope could have a love like that someday. Well, maybe not that dramatic, but genuine pure love that overcomes all obstacles. 

Josie gets her backpack and heads out of the senior citizens home. She feels a bit annoyed that the chess game was left unfinished, but hopefully her grandma will leave the board like that till tomorrow and they can pick up where they left off. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


A few days pass and Hope is finally coming back. Josie is waiting for her at the bus stop and is absolutely ecstatic that she’ll see the girl again. The brunette even made  a sign with glitter and everything. It looks weird and embarrassing, but Josie doesn’t care. She wants to show Hope just how much she missed her over the past couple of days since she’s been away.

The two have been texting and Josie can say that some of the messages they’ve sent each other have been very playful, which she enjoyed quite a bit. She’s determined to confess her feelings for Hope, finally. She just needs to stop thinking and blurt it out.

When the bus finally makes a stop and people start getting off it, Josie can’t help but smile so widely as she holds up the sign and her eyes search for the beautiful auburn-haired girl that she’s been waiting for for days. 

As soon as she sees Hope get off the bus, Josie starts jumping up and down like a complete dork and runs up to her. 

"Hope!" she says loudly. "Welcome back!"

Hope absolutely cannot believe how adorable Josie is right now, especially holding up that big sign. Nobody has ever done anything like this for her, so Hope will definitely cherish this memory forever. 

"Oh my god, you made me a sign…"

"Of course I did…" Josie tells her and then puts the sign on the ground. "I missed you so much, Hope."

The brunette then wraps her arms around Hope and hugs her so tightly, pouring all her longing from the past couple of days into the hug. 

"I missed you so much, too…" Hope responds and inhales deeply, feeling intoxicated by that amazing vanilla scent that Josie usually has.

The two stay like that for a little while longer before they grab a taxi and  start heading home to their shared apartment. The ride isn’t that long and it’s quiet, which is nice, because Hope doesn’t feel like talking. The driver doesn’t talk to them at all and there is soft music playing on the radio. Her and Josie are in the back seat of the car and Hope  is resting her head on the brunette’s shoulder. It’s so nice  that if she closes her eyes she feels like she’ll fall asleep. 

Hope  is super tired from the ride back and cannot wait to get home and just relax. She wants to sleep but it’s still early for that, around 7:30 PM, so having dinner and watching a nice movie with Josie might be a good idea. As far as she knows, Josie doesn’t have any other plans, so they can spend time together. 

When the taxi stops in front of their building, Hope takes out her wallet, but before she can give the man any cash, Josie beats her to it. Hope isn’t surprised, though, because Josie has been doing that a lot more lately, paying for things. Hope tried to argue with her about it, telling her that she doesn’t need Josie to pay for her, that she can afford getting things herself, but Josie explained to her that it’s not why she’s doing it at all. Josie is genuinely a nice person and likes doing sweet things for other people.  She buys her  snacks without Hope asking, pays for coffee most of the time and doesn’t take money from the auburn-haired girl whenever she tries to give it to her. Hope feels like it’s kind of a losing battle at this point because she can’t  just stop Josie from doing nice things for her . That won’t stop her from pouting and whining about it, though. 

When they get out of the car, Hope  is pouting like an adorable puppy and follows Josie inside the building. 

"Don’t look at me like that," Josie tells her and playfully bumps her shoulder with Hope’s.

"You always do this," Hope whines as they make their way to their apartment. 

"What?"

"Pay for things…"

Josie laughs when she sees how pouty Hope is being. It’s really adorable. "I told you before that I like spoiling you. I’m doing this because I care."

Hearing Josie say that she cares about her makes Hope’s heart flutter. If it was up to her, s he’d sh ower the brunette with so many kisses. She wants to show Josie that she cares too. Hopefully giving her the talisman would do just that.

"Fine," Hope says and rolls her eyes. The two finally reach their apartment and Josie unlocks the door before they get inside. "At least let me pay for dinner tonight. Maybe we can order something? What do you say?"

Pongo immediately makes his way towards the door. He’s wagging his tail and jumping in excitement because Hope is back and the poor little puppy missed her so much. 

Hope bends down and starts petting the doggy, her smile is so bright that Josie can’t help but stare at her. It’s mesmerizing really, how beautiful Hope looks and what an amazing girl she is. Josie feels so lucky to have met her. 

The brunette doesn’t answer Hope’s question at first, but then the other girl looks up and glares at her.  Josie immediately starts laughing at that and it’s enough to make her cave in. 

"Alright, I’ll let you pay for dinner this time."

Hope’s expression immediately changes into a happy one because of the small victory. " Yay!" she says with so much excitement. "I’m going to go take a shower first, because I smell like a bus, then I’ll order something. Do you have any suggestions?"

"I was thinking maybe we could order some Japanese food? I’ve been craving it a lot lately."

"That sounds cool. I’ve never tried it, if I have to be honest."

Josie smirks at Hope when she hears that. "Then you’re in for a treat."

"Oh, really? It’s that good, huh?" Hope raises an eyebrow and moves closer to Josie. 

"It’s absolutely delicious."

They stare at each other for a few seconds before Hope breaks this little staring contest. "Okay, I believe you."

Hope then goes to her room to grab some stuff before  taking a shower while Josie takes Pongo out for a walk. Around  40 minutes or so later, both girls are on the couch, watching some random movie on Netflix and waiting for their food to arrive. Hope wasn’t sure what exactly to order, because she wasn’t familiar with the Japanese cuisine, so she had to text Josie to ask her what she should get while the girl was out with Pongo. 

"I hope the food gets here soon, because I’m starving," Josie whines and Hope couldn’t agree more. She herself is definitely very hungry as well.

"Patience, darling," Hope tells her with a really bad british accent, which makes Josie chuckle. 

"You’re really bad at this." Josie is full on laughing now and Hope joins in. 

"Shut up," she then tells her and playfully pushes the brunette away from her, but Josie doesn’t budge. She just moves closer and attempts to hug Hope. The girl gets off the couch, though, which makes Josie roll her eyes.

"Oh, you’re running away from me now, huh?"

"Yes, I am!" 

Hope then disappears into her room, leaving Josie alone on the couch. About a minute later, though, the auburn-haired girl comes back with a wide smile on her face.

"I thought you ran away from me," Josie tells her, pretending to be mad and not looking at Hope, because if she so much as glaces at her, she’ll start smiling along with the other girl. 

"Only for like a minute," Hope explains and gets back on the couch, really close to Josie. "Because I needed to get something."

Hope then takes out a small little box from the pocket of her hoodie and puts it in between her and Josie. The brunette stares at the little thing and her eyes grow wide with shock. 

"Oh god, are you proposing to me?!"

Hope rolls her eyes at that. "Yeah, I’m totally proposing to you on our couch in the most unromantic way possible."

Josie chuckles and then removes the little bow on top of the gift before taking the lid of the box off. 

"Hope…" Josie says immediately when she sees the talisman inside. She’s on the verge of tears and wants nothing more than to hug and kiss this sweet human in front of her. "This is so beautiful. Thank you so much."

"You’re very welcome, Josie. I got it when I was in New Orleans. It made me think of you." Hope doesn’t tell the girl that the talisman is magical or anything about what the old lady that gave it to her said, because she doesn’t know whether Josie likes her in that way, but if anything at some point does happen between them and their relationship evolves into more than just friendship, she’ll definitely mention it to Josie.

Before any of them can say anything further, the girls hear the doorbell ring, signaling that their food has arrived. Hope quickly gets up to  answer while Josie brushes away the happy tears that had began forming in her eyes because of Hope’s beautiful present.

The auburn-haired girl returns about a minute later with their food and places it on the table. 

"Can you help me put this on after we finish eating?" Josie asks and points at the talisman.

"Anything for you."

About 5 minutes later, the food is all opened up and ready for them to consume. There’s chicken teriyaki, udon noodles with vegetables and some spicy salmon with crispy rice. The only problem is that Hope has never used chopsticks in her life. 

"Dig in! I’m sure you’ll love it," Josie encourages her and grabs a pair of chopsticks and the noodles. 

Hope is a bit embarrassed to say that she has no idea how to hold them. She just looks at Josie’s hand and the way she’s using them, so she decides to do the same. How hard can it be?

The auburn-haired girl grabs the other pair of chopsticks and  somehow properly separates them before attempting to hold them with her right hand. It’s an absolute disaster. One of the chopsticks even falls on the table and Hope curses under her breath. 

"Fuck…"

Josie looks at her and finds the way Hope is struggling with this rather amusing. 

"Need any help?" she asks, her voice sweet and gentle. 

Being her usual stubborn self, Hope responds with, "I got this…"

She struggles for about 20 seconds more with this before another frustrated sigh leaves her mouth.

"Let me help you," Josie tells her and places the cup of noodles on the table and her chopsticks on top of it. 

Hope finally gives in and lets the brunette help her with this. Josie moves closer and a few seconds later Hope feels the girl’s fingers brush against the back of her hand. It’s so nice and it awakens those damn butterflies in her stomach. 

"You need to place the first chopstick at the base of your thumb like this," Josie starts explaining. "Now open these fingers up." 

Hope feels the girl move her pinky and ring finger a bit forward and bend them so that the rest of the chopstick can go on top of them. At that moment Hope wishes she could just throw the chopsticks away, intertwine her fingers with the brunette's and just hold her hand in the most loving way possible, but she doesn't do that. She tells herself that she needs to focus and listen to Josie's explanation. 

"Sounds easy enough," Hope says as Josie then pushes her thumb to hold the chopstick in place. 

Josie chuckles. "Don't get so cocky. Let's see how you'll handle moving the other chopstick with the rest of your fingers." 

"I'll manage. My fingers are pretty flexible," Hope just blurts out without thinking and Josie goes quiet.  The girl then  realizes how dirty that must’ve sounded. "I mean, you know, because of painting and all." Hope adds to that so that it doesn't seem weirder than it already is. "I can move them easily, yeah. I've held a lot of paintbrushes."

"Alright, expert," Josie says, ignoring the burning in her cheeks at the thought of how flexible Hope’s fingers can be, and to what good use she can put them.  W ith a smile on her face, she puts the second chopstick in its proper place between Hope's other fingers. "Now you just have to move your index and middle finger but make sure not to bend your thumb, okay?"

"Got it." Hope does as she’s instructed and it actually works, kinda. She’s still pretty bad at it and feels uncomfortable, but she’s doing it. Now the challenge will be to hold food with the chopsticks. 

"Come on, try eating the food now," Josie encourages her to give it a shot and Hope gulps nervously. The girl moves her chopsticks closer to the chicken pieces with teriyaki sauce. She then attempts to pick one up by slowly moving her index and middle fingers to open up the chopsticks and then close them when they are around the little piece of meat. 

"I’m doing it!" Hope yells out in joy when she manages to pick it up. 

"Great job, Hope!"

The girl moves the piece towards her mouth, so excited to taste it, but when she’s so damn close, she drops it and the poor little piece of meet falls. It makes contact with her hoodie, leaving a small trail of teriyaki sauce and then it’s on the floor. 

Hope groans in frustration and throws the chopsticks on the table. "Damn it!"

Josie starts laughing because she just can’t help it. The sight is just way too funny.

"Here let me clean that up," the brunette says after that and grabs a napkin. She quickly moves it over to the spot on Hope’s hoodie with the sauce and starts wiping it away. 

As she does that, her brain realizes that she’s touching Hope’s boob this way. It appears that Hope notices it too because her eyes grow wide and she looks at Josie. The brunette then starts panicking and quickly moves her hand away. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. I just wanted to clean it up. I didn’t mean to... you know." 

"Josie, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it," Hope tells her with a chuckle. "No big deal. I’ll just go put this in the wash and I’ll change into something else, okay?"

"Okay," Josie quietly says and Hope gets up from the couch with a nod, then quickly leaves the room. 

Josie is still embarrassed, even though the other girl already told her that it wasn’t a big deal, but this whole thing makes her so insecure. The brunette then starts replaying every embarrassing moment she’s ever lived through in her mind and starts overthinking everything once again. She hates it when something like this happens and starts wondering what Hope would think of her now. The brunette then goes over so many possible scenarios of how awkward things are going to be now and how this definitely qualifies as a terrible moment to confess her feelings for Hope.

When Hope returns, Josie and her continue eating the food but the auburn-haired girl uses a fork this time and they don’t talk about the incident. They just kinda pretend like it hasn’t happened, even though it was on both their minds. 

"Let’s put this thing on you," Hope says after they both finish eating and grabs the talisman from the box. 

Josie smiles at her, then turns around and moves her hair out of the way, so her neck is bare and Hope could put it around it. The brunette shivers when she feels Hope’s hot breath behind her ear and she can’t help but let out a soft little moan. It makes Hope smile because she loves hearing sounds like that coming from the other girl. Josie’s breathing becomes heavy and her heart starts beating rapidly because of how close Hope’s mouth is to her neck. Hope’s fingers gently brush her bare skin when she starts attempting to put the jewelry on the other girl. This is a lot harder than it seems, though, because Hope is struggling with reattaching the clasps. 

"Everything okay?" Josie asks when she hears Hope sigh in frustration.

"Yeah, yeah…" the auburn-haired girl quickly answers. "I’ll do it. Hold on a second."

Josie starts laughing when she hears Hope say that. "You’re such a dork, you know that?"

"Yes, I am. Now stop moving, please…"

Josie immediately stops herself from laughing any further and is just smiling now. "Okay, okay." 

After probably a minute or so of struggling, Hope finally manages to put the talisman around Josie’s neck properly. 

"All good!" Hope happily exclaims and Josie quickly turns around, the smile still on her face. She’s so beautiful and Hope just can’t stop herself from voicing her thoughts. "You’re beautiful."

"Thank you, Hope." 

"The talisman looks good on you." When Hope says that she’s sort of maybe hoping that magic is real and that now Josie would tell her she is madly in love with her, but no such luck. Magic definitely isn’t real and Josie is definitely not in love with her in Hope’s opinion.

They eventually finish watching the movie and turn on another one, but Hope is so damn tired that she ends up falling asleep halfway through it. Josie ends up staring at the gorgeous girl next to her and can’t help but think how adorable she looks when she’s sleeping. She badly wants to tell her how she feels. Josie hates how much of a coward she is for not confessing her feelings to Hope. A sigh escapes her mouth as she continues looking at the girl’s beautiful facial features. Josie reaches out and moves a strand of hair away from Hope’s face, her eyes then dart from the girl’s eyebrows to her cute nose and to her lips, which look so damn kissable. 

Josie really wants to just lean in and touch them with hers, but she knows that it’s going to be wrong. A non-consentual kiss is never the answer. Plus, what if Hope wakes up and is so devastated by what Josie has done that she ends up hating her forever. Josie won’t risk it. Instead she just continues looking at the girl and smiling. It does seem a bit creepy if you think about it, but Josie doesn’t care. 

"I wish I could tell you how much I like you," Josie whispers softly while Hope is sleeping soundly. "You mean everything to me, Hope."

About 5 minutes later Josie decides to wake Hope up, so that she could go and sleep in her room and not on the couch. 

"Hope," Josie says and places her hand on Hope’s shoulder. She gently shakes her and continues speaking, "Wake up, sleepyhead."

Hope stirs awake a few seconds later and lets out a soft sleepy moan when she opens her eyes. It’s incredibly cute in Josie’s opinion.

"What time is it?" Hope sleepily asks, her voice raspy and very very sexy. 

"Oh… uhm, it’s almost midnight."

Hope manages to get up from the couch. "I’m gonna sleep then. Goodnight, Jo," she says with a yawn.

"Goodnight," Josie responds and then watches as Hope leaves the room.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a triple update, guys. So go read chapters 13 and 14 first. <3
> 
> Enjoy!

On the next morning, Hope feels absolutely amazing. She’s well-rested and slept like a baby during the night. The girl is definitely in a good mood so she decides to make breakfast for her and bring it to the girl’s room. It will be a nice surprise that she’s sure the brunette would appreciate. 

Hope quickly gets ready for the day and goes to the kitchen to whip up some pancakes. She knows the girl is still sleeping, because she doesn’t have classes this morning, so she has time to prepare everything. 

After about 30 or so minutes, breakfast is prepared and Hope puts everything on a tray along with a glass of orange juice and quietly brings everything to Josie’s room. The brunette is a heavy sleeper, so she doesn’t hear Hope come into the room. The girl leaves everything on Josie’s desk along with a cute little note that says she hopes she enjoys the meal. Afterwards Hope gets out of the room, eats breakfast herself and then heads off to her gallery.

When Josie wakes up later and sees the tray with food on her desk, she feels like she’s dreaming or something. The girl gets out of bed and moves to the desk. When her eyes catch sight of the cute little note, the brunette immediately smiles widely. She can’t believe that such a sweet person exists and lives with her. 

Josie quickly washes up in the bathroom and then comes back to eat the delicious food that Hope prepared. While she’s eating, she opens up the chat with Hope and sends her a quick text message to express her gratitude. The brunette even takes a selfie to show her just how happy she is and how much she enjoys the pancakes.

When Josie finishes eating, she puts everything away and then goes on her computer to work on her newest project. She’s actually fixing up the gallery’s website because she wanted to help Hope out. 

Josie adds some additional things to the website that she’s sure the customers would love and does it with so much enthusiasm. It’s for Hope, so of course she would. She’ll do anything for Hope with enthusiasm, no matter what it is. 

The brunette works on the website for a few hours and she feels amazing about it. Meanwhile, Hope is chilling at her gallery. There are some people that came in who bought a few paintings, which made the girl so happy. 

Things are going absolutely great. Well, until an unexpected visitor shows up afterwards.

Roman Sienna walks into the gallery with that cocky grin on his face as if he owns the place. When Hope notices him she immediately feels like she wants to throw up. 

“Hey, gorgeous,” the boy says and moves closer to her. 

“What do you want, Roman?” Hope really doesn’t want to deal with his shit right now.

“I haven’t seen you in a couple of days, so I thought I’d check up. You okay?” 

Roman does seem genuinely concerned about her, but it’s not enough for Hope to like him as a person. The girl sighs and moves a bit further away because she doesn’t want to be close to him.

“Everything is good. I wasn’t working for a few days because I was visiting my family,” the girl explains, making Roman smile. 

“I’d like to meet your family someday. I’m great with parents. They’ll love me as a son-in-law.”

Hope cringes at the thought of being married to Roman. She’s sure that her family won’t like him at all, especially her dad. He’d definitely want to chop his head off the moment he sees him.

“I highly doubt that,” Hope tells him, but that just makes Roman even more pumped up, because it seems like a challenge. 

“Come on, Hopey,” he takes a few steps closer to the girl. “Until when are you going to deny me? There’s so much chemistry between us.”

“Look, Roman. I’m just not attracted to you,” Hope tries to explain to him as calmly as possible, even though his words infuriate her to no end.

“I don’t believe that. You definitely want me…”

Okay, that does it. That line just makes Hope snap and she starts yelling at him.

“Don’t fucking tell me how I feel, Roman. I’ve told you so many times that I’m not attracted to you. What don’t you understand?”

Roman is a bit taken aback by this, because Hope has never actually raised her voice at him. She’s always been calm, but this version of her is a bit scary. 

“Fine, I’m sorry,” the boy quickly says and retreats back. He knows not to mess with an angry woman.

“Please, leave my gallery,” Hope tells him and points at the door. 

The boy raises his hands in the air and continues moving backwards towards the exit. “Alright, alright. I’m going. I’ll see you at the meeting with the others tomorrow.”

Hope doesn’t say anything and Roman decides not to push her any further, so he just leaves the gallery. The girl feels so infuriated at that moment because of him, so she takes her phone out and opens up her chat with Josie, because she knows that the girl will definitely make her feel so much better.

When she opens the chat, she notices that Josie had already sent her a few text messages 30 minutes ago.

  
  


[3:46 PM] Josie: Hope! <3 

[3:46 PM] Josie: I’m done fixing up some things on the website. I’ll show you tonight. ^-^

[3:47 PM] Josie: I hope you’re having a great day at work. <3 <3 <3 

  
  


Hope smiles when she sees the messages and it’s like everything that happened with Roman previously has been erased from her memory. 

  
  


[4:17 PM] Hope: Thank you so much for the website, Jo. I’m sure that it’s incredible! <3 I don’t expect anything less from you. 

[4:18 PM] Hope: You just made me feel so much better. I had a run in with Roman a few minutes ago and he was being so pushy. I really dislike him and I totally snapped at him. I don’t think he’s ever made me feel so angry…

  
  


Josie doesn’t take long to reply, which Hope is very grateful for because she loves it when the girl instantly responds to her messages. It makes her think as if Josie has been eagerly awaiting her texts this entire time.

  
  


[4:19 PM] Josie: That little douche. I can’t believe him… :(

[4:19 PM] Josie: Want me to come over? I won’t have much time because I have to go see my grandma, but it’s still enough even if I see you for like 10 minutes… 

  
  


Hope smiles at the thought of Josie coming over to the gallery. It would be great and it will make her feel even better.

  
  


[4:21PM] Hope: Yeah. I’d love it if you could come over. <3 <3

[4:22 PM] Josie: On my way <3

  
  


Josie makes it to the gallery at around 4:40 PM because she asks MG to drop her off. If she had taken the bus, the ride would’ve been so much longer. 

“Hey,” Hope says the moment she sees Josie walk inside her gallery. 

“Hope!” 

The brunette doesn’t waste any time and quickly goes in for a hug. She hasn’t seen Hope at all today, so she’s missed her terribly, and plus, she wants to thank her properly for the pancakes. What better way than a hug? Okay, well Josie can think of better things than a hug, but she can’t do them unfortunately. Otherwise she would’ve loved giving Hope a thank you kiss. 

The two hug for what seems like forever, neither wanting to let go of the other. It’s so nice and it makes all of Hope’s worries just fade away. Having Josie in her arms is perfect, absolutely perfect.

When they break the hug, Josie notices that it’s 4:50 PM, which means that she should leave for the senior citizens home. 

“I wish I didn’t have to go, but my grandma is waiting.”

“Yeah, I know…” 

They stay silent after that for a moment until Josie decides to just ask something that’s been on her mind ever since her grandma had suggested it a few days ago. “Hey, do you want to come meet my grandma? She’s been asking me about you for a while now and yeah. I mean, if you’re busy with work today, it could be another day, when you’re not too busy. Or I don’t know, whenever you want. No pressure. I mean-”

“Josie!” Hope cuts her off and puts her hands on her shoulders. “You’re rambling again.”

“Oh…”

“I’d love to come meet your grandma. We can go there now. I was planning on closing early today anyway.”

Josie’s smile becomes so wide when she hears the girl’s words. She is so excited about the fact that two of the most important people in her life finally get to meet each other. 

“Okay, let’s go then!”

Hope closes up the gallery as quickly as possible, so that they are able to reach the senior citizens home in time. Well, sort of. They will be a little late, but at least Josie has a good excuse for that this time, so her grandma won’t be mad. 

They make it to the senior citizens home at around 5:15 PM and they go up to Liz’s room. Josie has told Hope all about her grandma and Frank. She talks about them quite a bit because she’s excited that her grandma found love again at such an old age.

“Grandma!” Josie happily exclaims as soon as she enters the room. Liz turns around and smiles widely at her granddaughter.

“Josie!” she says her name with such enthusiasm. The old woman’s mood always goes up tenfold whenever Josie comes to visit, but now it’s a lot more than that because she notices a beautiful girl next to her granddaughter. She immediately thinks that this is Hope, the girl who captured the brunette’s heart.

Josie immediately embraces the older woman and pours all her love and positivity into it. She loves hugging her grandma so much. 

“There’s someone I’d like you to meet,” she then says excitedly to the older woman a few seconds later and pulls away from her. 

“Oh, who have we here?” Liz asks and looks at the beautiful auburn-haired girl inside the room with them.

“Hi,” Hope answers and awkwardly waves as she moves closer. “I’m Hope.”

“Oh, dear…” Liz excitedly says. “It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve been asking Josie to introduce us for such a long time. You’re even more beautiful than she describes you.”

“Grandma,” Josie says and nudges the older woman, feeling embarrassed by the fact that she told Hope that she’s described how beautiful she is.

Hope blushes at that and looks at the floor. Her heart beats so fast at the thought of Josie talking to her grandma about her. It’s really nice. 

“Hope, do you play chess?” Liz suddenly asks, which catches Hope a bit off guard, because she didn’t expect the older woman to ask her a question like that.

“I know how to play, sort of, but I’m not really good at it.”

“That’s okay. Maybe we can play a game. What do you say?”

Hope nods and smiles at the older woman. “I’d love that.”

Liz goes to the table where the chess board and pieces are set up and sits down at her usual seat. 

“I’m gonna use the bathroom real quick,” Josie tells Hope and gently squeezes her shoulder. “Go sit and play with grandma. I’ll be back soon.”

Josie then leaves the room and Hope is left alone with Liz. She makes her way to where she is and sits in the chair in front of her. 

“You know, Hope,” Liz starts speaking after she moves her pawn on the board. “My granddaughter really likes you.”

Hope smiles and then moves her own chess piece. “I really like her too.”

“I haven’t seen her smile at anyone the way she smiles at you,” Liz continues. “She cares deeply about you, Hope. Please, don’t break her heart.”

“We’re close friends. You can trust me that I’m not going anywhere and will always be there for her,” Hope answers, not really understanding what Liz means when she says that Josie deeply cares about her. 

“I’m not talking about friendship,” Liz elaborates, trying to get Hope to understand. “It’s so much more than that.”

Hope is a bit confused by the things that the older woman is saying. She wonders if she’s not talking about friendship than what is she talking about. Could it possibly be that Josie might have romantic feelings for her? 

“What do you mean?” Hope tries to get a clearer explanation out of the woman.

“Open your eyes, Hope…” Liz straight up tells her. “Josie is in love with you.”

Hope stares at the woman in shock because of what she’s just said. She feels as if all of this is a dream, that it’s not actually happening and that she’ll wake up soon from this beautiful fantasy. Josie is in love with her, her feelings are reciprocated, it’s not all unrequited. She can’t believe it. All this time, she could’ve told Josie how she felt and the girl would’ve returned her feelings. God, she feels so stupid.

Before Hope can say anything more, Josie returns from the bathroom and joins them in the chess game. 

“What did I miss?” the brunette asks both of them as she pulls up a chair so she could observe them playing.

“Oh nothing, darling. I’m just crushing Hope at chess,” Liz says and chuckles. 

Hope can barely pay attention to what’s going on around her now after she found out that Josie is in love with her. She mechanically moves some of the pieces and makes so many wrong moves that Liz ends up winning the game without breaking a sweat. 

“You’ll do better next time,” Josie reassures the auburn-haired girl and pats her on the back. Hope smiles at her and then stands up from her seat. Then they switch places, so Josie can play against her grandma.

They go add it for the rest of the visit, switching places and playing with Liz. Throughout all the time they’re there, Hope can’t stop thinking about confessing her feelings to Josie. She’s determined to finally do it tonight after they leave the senior citizens home. 

The two girls bid Liz goodbye at 7 PM and make their way towards the bus stop that’s closest to them. The weather is a bit chilly, so they Hope the bus wouldn’t be delayed or anything like that. 

When they make it there the board says that the bus will arrive in exactly 7 minutes, which isn’t that bad. It definitely could’ve been worse. So the two girls stand there on the stop in silence, waiting for the bus to arrive, and Hope can’t stop thinking about how much she just wants to confess her feelings to Josie.

Thankfully, grandma Liz gave her the courage she needed to finally take the next step. 

“Jo,” Hope says and Josie immediately turns around to look at her. “I have something to tell you.”

The brunette seems a bit confused by Hope’s words all of a sudden and wonders what she has to say. “Yeah?”

“I didn't have the courage to talk to you when I first noticed you inside the bus, sitting a few seats away from me, but I think I'm braver now...”

“What do you mean?” Josie asks her, still not following where Hope is going with this and why she’s bringing it up now.

“I really like you, Josie,” Hope finally says what she’s been dying to say ever since she noticed the brunette on that damn bus. “I have feelings for you which are not just friendly feelings.”

Josie stands still and her mind goes blank the moment those words come out of Hope’s mouth. She can hear her heart beating inside her chest and how the girl she’s been pining over for a long time has confessed that she feels the exact same way. This is like a dream come true. 

“Hope…” Josie manages to say the girl’s name. “You like me? For real?”

Hope chuckles. “Of course I do, you dork. I’ve been dying to tell you for so long, but I was so scared that you would reject me.”

“Oh my god, I’ve wanted to tell you that I like you too,” Josie says and starts laughing. “We’re such idiots.”

“At least we told each other now, right?” Hope smiles and moves closer to the brunette. “Better late than never…”

“Yeah,” Josie manages to say as she stares into Hope’s eyes, those beautiful blue eyes that she can just get lost in. 

“Josie?” Hope starts speaking again and the brunette just hums in response. “I’m dying to kiss you.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Do it,” Josie tells her, her voice sounding so close to a whisper. She closes her eyes when she sees Hope leaning closer and soon after feels a pair of lips on her own. It’s breathtaking, magical, everything that Josie has ever wished for in a kiss. Their lips start moving in sync with each other, so hungrily, as if they can’t get enough. All that built up frustration, all the longing, the pining, everything they’ve felt for so long, they just pour into that one perfect kiss. It’s just perfect.

Hope places her arms around Josie’s waist and pulls her even closer. The brunette lets out a soft moan when the girl does that, savoring this moment because it’s like nothing she’s ever experienced so far. 

When the two finally pull away from each other, they’re panting and seem so breathless. 

“I wanted to do that for so long,” Hope says as her hands find Josie’s and she intertwines their fingers. 

Josie laughs cutely because she’s wanted that for so long as well. “Yeah, me too…”

“Will you go on a date with me?” Hope then blurts out, excited to plan something cute and romantic for her and Josie.

“Of course I will…”

The smile on Hope’s face just can’t be even wider after she hears Josie’s response. She feels so happy at that moment because she finally got the girl of her dreams. Hope makes a mental note to go to the senior citizens home tomorrow and thank Liz for her help. If it wasn’t for her, Hope would’ve still been stuck thinking that Josie sees her as just a friend and wouldn’t have confessed her feelings in the near future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that the updates took so long, guys. I've been having a rough couple of weeks and had major writer's block. Hopefully you won't wait too long for the next update. I feel a lot better now and things are good. <3 
> 
> Hosie are finally togetherrrr!!! Yay! Confessionss all the way! <3 I think all of us deserve this after that really bad S3 premiere... :D 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed these 3 chapters that I posted. <3 
> 
> Thank you all so much for still following the story, for leaving kudos, comments, reaching out. You guys are amazing! <3 Stay safe and take care of yourselves everyone. <3


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3
> 
> There's Hosie fluffff ^-^

When Hope and Josie get home almost an hour later, they both feel so giddy and excited, but most importantly, it’s like a weight has lifted off their shoulders. Their feelings are finally out in the open and they are reciprocated, which makes them both immensely happy. The two girls absolutely cannot get enough of each other. All those weeks of burying their feelings and emotions so deeply have now exploded and they just want to be so close in every  w ay possible, and it’s fucking beautiful.

"I’ll go take Pongo out for a walk," Josie informs the other girl, making Hope smile widely. She absolutely loves how much the brunette adores her doggo and how she puts so much effort into taking care of it. It just makes Hope adore her even more.

"Okay, I’ll whip us up something to eat then," Hope replies and opens up the fridge before taking out some products she would need. 

Josie moves closer to her and wraps her arms around the shorter girl’s waist  and pressing her  body against hers afterwards. "You’re amazing," she tells her and starts planting soft kisses all over the girl’s face. "So damn amazing."

Hope lets out a cute little moan when she feels the other girl’s lips on her skin. It’s kind of turning her on, which is absolutely amazing, but right now they shouldn’t be doing this. Josie needs to take Pongo out for a walk and Hope has to prepare their dinner. She knows that, but she really doesn’t want the brunette to stop.

"Mmm, if you keep this up, we might just have each other for dinner," Hope says and bites her lower lip while looking at Josie very seductively.

The brunette smirks and is about to continue planting kisses all over Hope, but stops herself when she feels something between her legs, something very fluffy and barking. 

Josie lets out a light chuckle and looks down to see cute little Pongo touching her leg with his paw, begging for attention. 

"This is my cue to leave." Josie’s words make Hope frown because she definitely doesn’t want the moment between them to end. Hopefully they could pick up where they left off later. 

Josie then leaves the kitchen along with Pongo and Hope is left there alone. The auburn-haired girl has an unbelievably wide grin on her face as she leans in on the counter and just closes her eyes. She let’s out the breath that she didn’t know she was holding in and just feels so happy, so nice. She absolutely cannot believe that this is happening, that her and Josie are happening. 

The auburn-haired girl  exhales after what feels like forever.  "Okay, time to cook,"  she then says out loud and gets ready to make something nice for Josie.

She’s planning on making a vegetarian casserole since Josie doesn’t eat meat. Hope just really want to  prepare something for the other girl, to make her something delicious that she’d enjoy. Plus, she needs to repay her for spending so much time on the gallery’s website. It’s the least she could do.

Hope pulls out her phone from her pocket and googles the recipe. She doesn’t know it by heart because this would be the first time she’s making this thing. At some point during the day she had looked up recipes online for certain dishes that Josie might like and had saved some of them. 

As the auburn-haired girl looks through the steps that she needs to take, she prays that she has the necessary ingredients and that she doesn’t screw this up. She thinks that she has all of them, or maybe most of them.  Hope believes that i t could probably turn out great even without a few things. There has to be something that she can replace the missing ingredients if necessary, so she thinks she’ll be fine.

"Okay, this thing looks easy enough to do," Hope says out loud and looks at the ingredients she had taken out of the fridge before. She carefully checks if she has everything she needs and lets out a relieved sigh that it’s all there, so she doesn’t need to substitute anything. 

Hope places her phone somewhere on the counter and  puts a heavy-based pan on top of the stove. The girl then heats up some olive oil and afterwards starts chopping up some onions. She needs to cook them for 5 or 10 minutes until they soften.

"So far so good," Hope says with a smile on her face and continues following the steps in the recipe. She chops up some more vegetables, puts some spices in there, trying to do everything by the book, and when she’s done, leaves it to cook for around 40 minutes. 

While she waits, she once again thinks about her and Josie. The kiss they shared was magical in her opinion and she absolutely cannot wait to do it again. Now that their feelings are out in the open, Hope is so happy that she can just freely show how much she cares about the brunette without worrying that it might come off the wrong way.

As Hope thinks about that wonderful moment she shared with Josie, she is suddenly startled by her phone vibrating on the counter. She glances down at the screen and is surprised to find her best friend Penelope calling her for a video chat. It’s weird because it’s really early in the morning in Belgium, probably around 4-5 AM. 

"Hey, bitch!" Penelope yells out as soon as Hope answers and pours a bottle of alcohol all over her face and into her open mouth. "I love you so much!"

Hope shakes her head and smiles at her camera. "Oh god…"

"You’re the best bitch ever, Hope! My best bitch!" Penelope continues yelling, making Hope laugh. It’s so fun when her best friend just randomly drunk video calls her and starts talking random shit. 

"I love you too, Pen!" Hope tells her, still laughing.

"Tell me, Hope," Penelope says afterwards. "Did you finally get that hot brunette? Please, tell me you did. I need my OTP together. I need Hosie to be a thing, the ultimate ship, you understand?"

"Hosie?"

Penelope laughs at how clueless her best friend is sometimes. "That’s your ship name. Hope and Josie, duh..."

"Oh…" Hope says, finally understanding what the other girl means. "Yes, Pen. We’re together. Not officially, because I haven’t asked her yet, but we kissed and everything, so we’re getting there." 

Honestly, Hope  really wanted to tell Penelope while the girl wasn’t drunk as fuck, but since she asked, she might as well just put it out in the open. She kinda doubts that Penelope will remember this on the next day, so she’ll probably have to tell her again, but whatever.

The moment Penelope hears her best friend say that she and Josie are finally together, she screams like a deranged fangirl. 

"Yes! Finally, bitch! I’ve been waiting for this moment for forever," Penelope continues yelling and lifts the bottle of alcohol in the air. "Hosie is life! Hosie is everything!"

"Thanks for your support, Pen," Hope just says, not knowing any other way to react to the things her drunk best friend is saying. 

"I miss you so much, Hope…" 

"Hey, I’ll come visit, don’t worry," Hope reassures the other girl when she sees her get all sad all of a sudden. Drunk Penelope switches moods so often that it’s a bit scary. At one moment she’s screaming, then in the next one, she could be crying. You just never know what to expect. Hope just prays that she’s not alone at this club or whatever place she’s at and has someone to take care of her. 

That was Hope’s role up until Penelope moved to Belgium with her mother. Now she doesn’t really know who has taken over that part, but she prays to god that the person who has is responsible. 

Penelope’s expression turns cheerful once again. "I can’t wait, Hope! I want to take you to so many places. Bitch, we’ll have so much fun!"

Before Hope can say anything more, Penelope starts drinking from the bottle yet again and screaming at the top of her lungs. She’s definitely having the time of her life out there. It kinda makes Hope really sad that she’s not there with her best friend right now, but at the same time, this whole thing is not really her scene. She’s not one to get drunk at clubs like Penelope.

"Yes, we will," Hope plays along with her best friend. "We’re totally gonna blow the places apart, man!"

Hope tries to be as enthusiastic as Penelope is. Her best friend yells out in happiness once again when she hears the auburn-haired girl’s words. "Damn right!"

As Hope continues looking at the screen and smiling at her best friend, she suddenly smells something very unpleasant. 

"Oh shit…" Hope curses and realizes that the dinner she’s making is burning, because she forgot to lower the heat. "Shit, shit, shit…"

"What’s going on?" Penelope asks and starts gulping down the rest of the liquid in the bottle.

"I burned dinner," Hope tells her and turns off the stove. Thankfully the smoke hood is turned on. 

Penelope then starts laughing like a maniac. "You burned dinner?! The great Hope Mikaelson, the master chef, the one who always says that I’m bad at cooking? You fucking burned dinner?!"

"Fuck you, Pen…" Hope tells her angrily and then hangs up the call. 

Penelope doesn’t call back after that, which Hope is thankful for because now she has to think of something else to cook. She cannot let Josie eat this horrible  disaster , no way in hell. 

Unfortunately, there are not enough ingredients left to make another batch and there isn’t much time left. Josie will be back with Pongo any minute now probably. 

Yes, Hope was definitely right about that, because about a minute later, she heard the front door of the apartment open and Pongo’s barking echoing inside the corridor. 

"Hope, I’m back," Josie yells out enthusiastically as she takes her jacket and shoes off. 

Hope doesn’t answer at all, which makes Josie a bit worried. The brunette also smells the burned food from inside the corridor and quickly rushes inside the kitchen.

"So…" Hope starts speaking the moment she sees Josie walk in with a panicked expression. "I did something stupid."

"Shit, what happened?" Josie says and moves closer, her eyes staring at the auburn-haired girl with the sad expression on her face. She looks like a puppy that has just been scolded. It’s heartbreaking, really.

Hope doesn’t look at Josie at all. She just stares at the floor. "I burned the food."

"Hey…" Josie starts speaking in such a soft voice that has Hope absolutely melting and then wraps her arms around the girl’s waist. "It’s okay. Let’s just order something? What do you say?"

"But I wanted to make something nice for you. It’s just, Penelope called and she was drunk and distracted me, and I forgot to lower the heat on the stove and-"

Josie quickly interrupts the rambling girl with a kiss. 

"Shhh," she tells her when she pulls away shortly after that. "It’s really sweet of you that you wanted to cook dinner for me. I really appreciate it, but don’t beat yourself up that it was ruined. It happens, okay? Let’s just order something now and you can cook me dinner another time? That okay?"

Hope smiles even if she’s on the verge of tears. "Okay…"

  
  


* * *

  
  


On the next day  Hope ends up calling Penelope at some point and telling her about the events of the previous night. She was right by the way. The girl doesn’t remember anything. She’s even surprised when Hope  tells her that they video chatted. Hope explains everything to her and goes into major details on how she and Josie confessed their feelings. Her best friend  is definitely very happy for that and  tells Hope that they should come visit her in Belgium, so all 3 of them  can hang out.

Business is definitely looking good for Hope, especially now that the website is so much better than before. When Josie showed her everything she did the night before, Hope was in absolute awe at how amazing everything looked. She made sure to make it up to Josie by properly cooking her breakfast. There wasn’t anything burning this time.

Hope is definitely ready now to make things even more serious because she and Josie have a date that they need to go to. The auburn-haired girl has everything planned out. There’s this really cute outdoor movie that’s showing tonight at the park near their apartment and Hope definitely wants to take Josie there. They could also have a picnic and everything. It would be romantic in Hope’s opinion and she is sure that Josie will definitely enjoy it.

The two girls get off the bus  hand in hand  and instead of walking towards their apartment, Hope leads the brunette to the park. 

"What are we going to do, Hope?" Josie curiously asks when she notices where they are headed. 

The auburn-haired girl smirks and doesn’t let go of Josie’s hand. Instead, she continues pulling her in the direction of the park even more. "You’ll find out."

"Ohhh, mysterious," Josie says and chuckles cutely. "I can tell that I’m already going to love our first date."

"I hope so," Hope replies, a little nervous now when she hears Josie’s words. She ends up wondering whether this would be good enough for the brunette and what if her expectations are way too high and she doesn’t enjoy it. 

"I know so," Josie tells her and squeezes the auburn-haired girl’s hand lovingly. All the worries that Hope had previously just fade away instantly at that moment. "The fact that the date’s with you is enough for me to love it."

Hope laughs a little at that. "So cheesy," she teases the other girl.

"You make me want to be cheesy."

Hope can’t help but grin widely at that. She adores Josie so much and cannot wait to spend the rest of the night with her. 

When the two girls finally arrive inside the park, more specifically at the exact place in it where the outdoor movie is held, Josie stares in awe at the big screen that’s put up and at all the chairs situated in front of it. It’s beautiful and it makes her all giddy that she’s doing this.

"I was thinking that maybe we could sit on a blanket and have a little picnic while we watch the outdoor movie," Hope says as she unzips her bag. They’re a bit farther away from everyone else. The spot the auburn-haired girl picks is a bit more secluded. You can still see the movie screen perfectly and you’re a bit isolated from all the other people that are sitting at the chairs. It’s kinda perfect for couples who want to be alone.

"Sounds wonderful."

Hope then sets up the blanket on the ground and takes out some snacks from the bag she had been carrying with her and which she didn’t let Josie peak in at all.

The girl had brought all of Josie’s favorite snacks and had made everything so amazing for the picnic outdoor movie date which has the brunette absolutely falling  for her even more. 

"Come on..." Hope sits down and pulls Josie along with her, so they can settle in comfortly on the blanket. 

"I can’t believe you did all of this," Josie says and snuggles in closer to Hope, resting her head on the girl’s shoulder as the auburn-haired girl wraps her arm around her. 

Hope smirks. "Everything for a pretty girl like you…"

Her words make Josie’s cheeks heat up.  The brunette has never really considered herself as  super pretty or anything like that, so Hope giving her such a compliment is  very surprising for her,  b ut it makes her feel so nice.  She absolutely loves it.

"Stop, you’re making me blush."

Hope gives Josie a quick peck on the lips as soon as she hears her say that. "Get used to it."

When the movie starts Josie smiles widely as soon as she sees the title. It’s ‘Imagine Me & You’, one of the most iconic lesbian movies of all time. Josie has probably seen it a thousand times and each time she watches it, it’s just like  it’s her first . It’s beautiful and it makes her feel giddy and hoping to experience that same beautiful love and desire that the two main women in the movie share.

"Great movie choice," Josie comments and her hand immediately finds the other girl’s. She gives it a gentle squeeze and looks at Hope with those gorgeous brown eyes of hers. 

"It’s one of my favorites," Hope explains and turns her head to Josie’s face, her eyes not leaving the girl’s. The way she’s looking at her has the brunette feeling as if she’s in an actual movie. The moment between them feels so personal, so intimate, and she never wants it to end. "I really want to share this with you."

Hope looks back at the screen after she finishes speaking, making Josie release that breath she didn’t know she was holding. 

"Yeah, me too."

The two girls continue watching the movie like that, snuggled close to each other, holding hands and just looking plain adorable together. They eat the snacks that Hope had gotten for them and everything is absolutely perfect. Both couldn’t have asked for a better date than this. 

"There always has to be some super confident man who thinks he can turn the lesbian straight," Hope comments as the movie goes on and some guy makes a comment. 

Josie completely agrees with her. "I know right. I really hate that."

"I think that’s the only thing I don’t like about the movie, the dudes, you know?" 

Josie chuckles. "I hear you, but it wouldn’t be that interesting if there wasn’t some kind of drama now, would it?"

"Yeah, but the two girls have such amazing chemistry. I’m just so here for it," Hope continues speaking. "Honestly, I would still enjoy the movie if it was just them staring at each other all the time or just overall having only super gay moments."

"You mean if the entire plot was just the two of them doing gay shit?"

Hope nods and Josie laughs at how adorable the other girl is. 

"Yeah, exactly."

Josie gently plays with the girl’s hand and smiles before looking at Hope  again .  "I’ll totally cut out all the scenes with the two of them from the movie and put them together especially for you."

"Aweeee, that’s literally such a sweet thing," Hope says and kisses the brunette. "You’d really do that for me?" she then asks when she pulls her lips away from the girl’s.

"Of course I would."

As the movie continues and a scene comes up where Rachel gives Luce her coat because she’s cold, Hope is reminded of that time when she gave Josie her jacket. The one she’s actually wearing right now. 

"That’s us by the way," Hope comments and points at the screen. "When I gave you my jacket that one time."

Josie very clearly remembers that moment and how madly she blushed when Hope did that. "Oh yeah. That was really sweet of you. Honestly, I think I’ve worn the jacket every day since then."

"I did say it looks good on you, maybe that’s why," Hope says with a smirk and turns her attention to Josie, admiring her.

"Maybeeee," Josie says cutely. "Or maybe it’s because every time I wear it it’s like you’re always with me. It makes me think of you when we are not together." 

Now it’s Hope’s turn to blush because of Josie’s words. It’s honestly one of the most adorable things she’s ever heard in her life. She loves that the brunette feels that way. 

"Cute…" 

"I’m never giving it back by the way," Josie informs her afterwards, now smirking as well. "It’s gonna be mine forever. "

"I don’t want it back, Josie," Hope replies and her free hand trails along Josie’s right arm. "Now that I know how you feel about it, I want you to keep it with you at all times."

Once the movie ends, both Hope and Josie put away the leftover snacks along with the blanket and decide to head back to their apartment because it’s getting really late. 

The two girls end up on the couch after they get back home, cuddling and just enjoying each other’s company. There’s some soft music playing and it’s so comfortable for both of them.

"I had a really nice time tonight, Hope," Josie says and her eyes don’t leave the other girl’s blue ones for a second. She loves looking at them so damn much. 

Hope  quickly  presses her forehead against Josie’s. "Me too," she softly says  after , her voice sounding more like a whisper than anything else. They stay like that for a little while longer before Hope decides to speak again. "This thing between us. Do you want it to be serious?"

Josie doesn’t hesitate even a little bit with her answer. "Yeah, I do." 

Hope smiles when she hears that and gently presses her lips against Josie’s for a sweet kiss. The brunette immediately reciprocates it and tilts her head a little. One of her hands finds its way to Hope’s neck as the kiss quickly turns heated. 

Both girls crave each other so much, like nothing else matters in the world  to them. They just want each other so badly. 

One of Hope’s hands gets tangled in Josie’s beautiful brown hair while the other goes under her shirt, making her let out such a nice little moan that can definitely send anyone over the edge. It’s like music to Hope’s ears. 

Unfortunately, though, their make out session is cut short and has to come to an end when the two girls suddenly hear a loud banging on the door. They’re both startled and pull away from each other, staring in surprise because they’re not expecting anyone at all. 

"Who could be looking for us at this hour?" Hope says, her tone sounding confused.

"I don’t know. I’ll-" Before Josie could finish her sentence, the banging on the door gets even louder and she suddenly hears a very familiar voice yelling from the other side of it. 

"Josette, open up!"

The brunette curses under her breath because she is almost 100% sure that the person who is disturbing them is her twin sister Lizzie. She quickly makes her way through the corridor and towards the door, mumbling something under her breath. She really doesn’t want to deal with her sister right now but she doesn’t have a choice. She’s sure that something must’ve happened for the blonde to be looking for her at 11 PM. 

When Josie finally reaches the door, she quickly unlocks it and opens it up. Her suspicions are immediately confirmed when she sees a very furious Lizzie on the other side. 

Without asking if she could come in or how Josie is, the blonde just walks inside the apartment, dragging her large suitcase along with her, and starts taking her coat and shoes off. 

"Sebastian fucking dumped me…" the blonde suddenly says, making Josie immediately stiffen. Oh no... Josie feels as if her worst nightmare is coming true now. "I’m moving back in."

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhhh shiiiit... ;d Lizzie Saltzman is in the house. There's gonna be a little bit of drama now that she's back. Stay tuned to find out what happens next.
> 
> I was gonna post this chapter earlier but my birthday was on Sunday and I didn't have much time to write. 
> 
> Thank you all for keeping up with the story and always leaving comments and kudos. You guys are so awesome and I appreciate you all so much! <3


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Lizzie Saltzman is beyond hurt by what Sebastian  had done to her. He  had been toying with her emotions for months, making her promises that he never intended to keep, leading her on into believing that they  were meant to be and using her for his own personal pleasure. It was disgusting and Lizzie is so incredibly heartbroken by the whole thing. 

Everything was going great up until one point that changed everything. One little thing that made  it just go down to shit. The two had been hooking up for months but they had never established their relationship, not really. They never officially confirmed that they were exclusive, which of course, allowed both of them the freedom to experience other options, to hook up with whoever else they want ed , but when they moved in together, things were looking pretty serious. It seemed that way to Lizzie. She really didn’t want to be with anyone else other than Sebastian. Unfortunately, though, things weren’t quite the same for him, because when Lizzie asked him if they could be exclusive, because she has really deep feelings for the boy, Sebastian gave her the boot. 

Oh, but not right away, no. For some reason, the asshole ended up stringing her along for a whole month, telling her that he just needs a bit more time to give her an answer on the exclusive thing, that things were okay between them, that he really really likes her and at some point he will be able to fully commit to her. All fucking lies. Lies, lies, lies…

Lizzie felt like something was off the first time when he started becoming cold towards her. It bothered her but she kept telling herself that maybe he’s just not in the mood. Then they started having sex less frequently, until at one point where he just pushed her away like she was an old shoe and told her that it’s not going to work out between them. 

Lizzie being Lizzie, took it really badly and caused a huge scene at his apartment. She broke a few vases, a lamp, and threw her hair dryer at the boy in anger. Too bad she missed his head. 

The blonde then packed her bags as fast as possible and went back to the only person who she knows really cares about her – her twin sister Josie. She knows she can always count on the brunette and that she’ll always have a home whenever Josie is.

When Lizzie angrily walks inside the living room after entering her old apartment, she seems absolutely furious. Only about an hour has passed since Sebastian dumped her and the blonde feels like she’s about to have a mental breakdown. 

"Lizzie, what happened?" Josie asks her sister worriedly and follows her into the living room. 

Hope stares at the two girls in confusion as the y walk around frantically, but doesn’t dare say anything. She knows it’s better not to butt in where it’s none of her business. 

"Sebastian is an asshole, that’s what happened!" Lizzie yells out and throws her bag on the couch without looking, almost hitting Hope straight in the head. She doesn’t even notice the auburn-haired girl. The blonde then proceeds with pacing around the living room, looking so desperate. "He lied to me and gave me false hope that things could work out between us. That we could be serious, but in the end he just ended things out of nowhere. I feel so fucking hurt and betrayed. I never expected him to do that."

"Maybe he just changed his mind." Josie couldn’t believe she was defending the man that she had been hating on for god knows how long. "Things like that happen."

"He should’ve told me from the beginning instead of giving me false hope,"

Josie feels so terrible as she looks at her heartbroken sister. She really wants to kill Sebastian for hurting her like this. The brunette comes closer to her twin and pulls her into an embrace. 

"Shhh…" she tells her softly, "It’ll be okay."

"I just don’t understand, Jo…" Lizzie continues speaking, her voice muffled because she has her head now buried in the crook of her sister’s neck while Josie softly caresses her back in order to comfort her. "Why would he lead me on like that? What did I do to deserve this pain?"

"Nothing, Lizzie…" Josie doesn’t stop comforting her sister. "You didn’t do anything wrong. You did everything you could. He’s just a stupid asshole who doesn’t appreciate you. I never liked that bastard and honestly, it’s better that he’s now out of your life. You deserve so much better, Lizzie…"

"I know that I do," Lizzie says as soon as she pulls away from Josie. "But I still feel so bad, Jo. I feel like I don’t have any will to live anymore, like my heart crumbled into millions of tiny pieces with absolutely no hope of being fixed."

Josie lets out a sigh and looks at her sister with an even more worried expression. "You’re still young, Lizzie. There are so many guys out there."

"But none of them are Sebastian," Lizzie dramatically says as tears start rolling down her face. "I need to be alone right now, Josie. I’ll just go to my room and hope that I’ll die in my sleep or something."

Lizzie then starts heading straight to her old bedroom. Both Hope and Josie panic immediately. The auburn-haired girl gets off from the couch and goes to Josie’s side as both of them follow after Lizzie.

"Lizzie, wait-" Josie yells out but is quickly interrupted by her twin’s scream.

"What the hell is this?!" 

"Uhm…" Hope wants to say something, but doesn’t really know what exactly.

"What’s going on here, Josette?" Lizzie turns around and if looks could kill, then Josie would definitely be dead right now. 

Josie takes a deep breath before speaking again. "Lizzie, this is Hope’s room now."

"Who the fuck is Hope?" Lizzie just won’t stop yelling. She feels so pissed off that someone else’s things are in her room. 

"I’m Hope," the auburn-haired girl awkwardly says and raises her hand like a middle school student.

"Why the hell are you in my room?" Lizzie continues yelling like a maniac and angrily stares at Hope. 

"I live here now. Josie told me that I could move in," Hope answers, her voice shaking a little because Lizzie looks like a dog with rabies that might attack her any second. The girl really tries to explain everything as calmly as possible but it’s a bit difficult to stay calm at that moment.

Lizzie turns her head to look at her sister once again. "Josette, how dare you?! Didn’t you think that you should fucking consult with me first before having some tramp move in here?"

"Don’t call my girlfriend a tramp, Elizabeth!" Josie fires back, now furious at the way Lizzie is speaking to her and the insulting word that she called Hope.

"Oh… Girlfriend?" Lizzie laughs as if she finally came to some sort of miraculous realization. The blonde then turns to Hope and moves closer to her. "So you swindled your way in here, huh? You fooled my sister into liking you, even though you look like a fucking dog. You smell like one too if I might add."

"Lizzie, stop!" Josie yells at her sister and tries to push her away from Hope.

Lizzie doesn’t listen, though. "I can tell that you are poor by the way you look. You fucking gold digger!" 

Hope doesn’t say a word to Lizzie at all. She doesn’t really know how to respond to any of this. The girl is utterly speechless and is on the verge of tears at this point. The words poor and gold digger hit Hope pretty hard. Hope just can’t stand there and be insulted anymore than she already has. So she does the only thing she could think of at that moment. She runs. 

"Hope!" Josie yells out in hopes that the girl would stop running. She then turns to Lizzie and pushes her sister back. "Why the hell did you do that? God, Lizzie…"

Josie then runs after  the girl immediately,  leaving Lizzie alone in the apartment and hoping that she could catch  up to Hope before she runs too far away. 

It’s raining heavily outside and both girls don’t seem to care at all. Hope doesn’t stop running along the sidewalk with Josie closely behind her and yelling for her to stop.

After about a minute, t he brunette manages to catch up to Hope and grabs her by the arm. The auburn-haired girl halts when she feels the  the strong grip and turns around. They’re near a bus stop, how ironic, and the rain keeps on pouring with no intention of stopping whatsoever. Both are panting and looking at each other intently.

"Leave me alone, Josie," Hope tells her and tries to free her arm from Josie’s grip.

The brunette doesn’t let go, though, but just pulls the other girl closer.  "No! I’m not going anywhere."

"Please, Josie. Just go back and talk to your sister. She needs you," Hope selflessly tells her and tries to push the brunette away.

"No. You need me more right now," Josie says as she tightens her grip on Hope with no intention of letting her get away. With a sigh, Hope relaxes and just lets Josie hold her. "I’m sorry about what she said to you. It was out of line."

"It was, but I understand. She was hurt because her boyfriend dumped her and got angry when she saw that the room wasn’t hers anymore, so she lashed out. She took it out on me."

Josie doesn’t really know how to respond to what Hope said about her sister. She is a bit surprised that  the girl didn’t start insulting Lizzie or anything like that, but is  in fact  so understanding. Most people wouldn’t react that way if Lizzie had said those mean things to them. 

Both of them just stand there under the pouring rain, just holding each other. They don’t say anything for a little while after until Josie eventually breaks the silence between them. 

"Please, come back to the apartment with me," the brunette says, her voice so soft and pleading.

"Josie, I don’t want to cause more trouble between you and your sister," Hope responds to that with a shaky voice. She finds herself on the verge of tears and as if she’s about to choke. "I can sleep in my gallery tonight and then move out tomorrow."

Josie suddenly pulls away a little and looks at the auburn-haired girl with a somewhat angry expression.

"You are not moving out," she says loudly, like she’s scolding her.

"But, I don’t want to be a bother and-"

"Listen to me, Hope," Josie interrupts her immediately. "Lizzie will just have to deal with this. She can sleep on the couch or find a different apartment. She was the one that moved out. A vacancy opened and you moved in. It’s her own fault, so you shouldn’t feel bad, okay?"

"I know, but I don’t want your relationship with her to become worse because of me."

"It won’t. It’s her turn to put me first for once in her life," Josie tells the girl hopefully. All those years Josie has always been the one sacrificing everything for her twin sister, always making her the priority, putting up with her bullshit. It’s time for the tables to turn, for Lizzie to put her twin first for once. "Please, Hope, trust me and come home with me."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Hope still asks despite everything that Josie had said. 

"Yes, Hope. Of course," Josie just answers like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. The brunette then presses her forehead against Hope’s and closes her eyes. "I want you to stay."

A  smile immediately  appear s on Hope’s face when she  hears Josie’s words. She wants her to stay. Josie  won’t let her leave like Hope had expected. Josie  isn’t willing to give up on her. All Hope has ever wanted in a partner was for someone to think that she’s worth staying for, to not leave her behind, to not take her for granted and to always value and appreciate her. Hope can see that Josie feels that way for her judging by her actions. 

"Then I’ll stay as long as you want me to."

Josie chuckles lightly. "Can that be forever?"

Hope then opens her eyes, still smiling widely. "Maybe it can," she then says softly and leans in to kiss Josie. 

The brunette moves her hands down the girl’s body to her waist and pulls her even closer as their lips move in sync with each other. The rain still doesn’t stop pouring but both of them don’t really care. They are so caught up in  the moment that it doesn’t matter at all. It’s just  the two of  them, experiencing this beautiful magical kiss.

  
  


* * *

  
  


When the two girls get back to the apartment that night, drenched because of the rain, they are surprised to see Lizzie asleep on the couch. They try to be as quiet as possible so that they won’t wake her. Thankfully, they don’t, because Lizzie sleeps like a log.

The two girls end up in Josie’s room that night, wrapped up in each other’s arms on her bed, and honestly, it’s the best sleep they’ve had in days. When morning comes, both are woken up really early, though, because they hear some really loud sounds coming from the kitchen.

Startled, Hope and Josie decide to check what’s going on, and they find Lizzie on the floor, crying, pots and pans all around her, utensils thrown everywhere. It’s insane.

"I can’t even make one simple meal," Lizzie cries out desperately like she’s on the verge of a mental breakdown. Josie immediately goes to her sister’s side to comfort her, putting aside everything that happened the night before, but before she can say anything, the blonde speaks again, "I wanted to make some toast, but I ruined everything and it tasted like shit."

Hope stares at the sight before her and feels so sympathetic towards both twins. She wonders how hard it must’ve been for Josie to deal with her sister’s surprise outbursts, how much she must’ve endured all her life.

"Why don’t you go in the living room and I’ll make you the toast, okay?" Josie says sweetly and helps her sister get up off the floor.

When Lizzie stands up she nods her head and starts walking towards the exit of the kitchen, but stops when she notices Hope.

"What is she still doing here? I thought she left," the blonde asks, her voice a little annoyed and Hope feels a bit scared that Lizzie is going to start insulting her again.

"Listen, Liz," Josie starts explaining how the situation is going to be from now on. She tries to say it as calmly as possible. "Hope has every right to be here fair and square. You left the apartment, the room is no longer yours. If you want to stay here, you’re going to have to sleep on the couch."

Lizzie turns around and stares at he sister in disbelief. "So you’re choosing some girl that you’ve known for months over me, your  own flesh and blood ?"

"It’s not about choosing, Lizzie." Josie feels frustrated now and she doesn’t know how she even has the energy to argue with her sister so early in the morning. "It’s about doing the right thing."

The blonde rolls her eyes when she hears that. 

"Fine," she just says, finally letting it go. "But don’t make me apologize to her for what I said last night. I know you’re going to tell me to do that. I will not."

"I don’t need you to apologize to me. It’s fine." Hope finally decides to say something.

"Whatever," Lizzie just mutters and leaves the kitchen after that. 

It all  feels so weird to Hope, but apparently she’s going to have to get used to this, since Lizzie will obviously be staying with them. 

If it were up to Hope at this moment, she’d definitely give her room back to Lizzie and maybe move in to Josie’s room with the brunette. They don’t have a problem sharing a bed anyway and they do it every night, but she doesn’t know how Josie would feel about that. Hope is worried whether it would feel too sudden. It’s different when Hope’s things are in a seperate room. The seriousness of their relationship doesn’t feel so real like that, but if Hope were to move  everything into Josie’s room, then she’s worried that it might scare Josie off or something. 

"I’m sorry about her, babe," Josie says after a few seconds, the sweet nickname just rolling of her tongue like it’s the most natural thing in the world. 

Hope loves it very much and it definitely gives her those damn butterflies in her stomach. The auburn-haired girl moves closer to Josie and smiles at her lovingly. 

"It’s alright," she tells the brunette and wraps her arms around the girl’s body. 

Josie visibly relaxes and the two girls stay like that for a while before the brunette starts making the toast for her sister. Hope checks the clock and sees that she has 2 hours before work, so she decides to go back to bed and sleep for at least another hour. 

After Josie quickly makes the toast, she goes to the living room to bring it to her sister and finds the blonde taking selfies for Instagram.  Josie rolls her eyes and just leaves the toast on the table without saying anything. Lizzie appears to be fine at the moment, since she’s okay enough to take pictures for her many followers. 

Once the plate with toast is on the table, Josie is about to leave the living room and go wash up in the bathroom, because with all the commotion around Lizzie, she still hasn’t. Before she could leave, though, Lizzie speaks up. 

"You didn’t cut the crust," the blonde informs her sister and then continues taking selfies. 

Josie takes a deep breath and tries to stop herself from yelling at the girl in front of her. Without saying anything, she just takes the plate with the toast and goes back into the kitchen. The girl then cuts the crust and brings it back to Lizzie, putting it on the table once again. 

This time the blonde is satisfied and Josie is free to go.  It looks as if she’s her servant or something.

"Thank god," the brunette mutters under her breath as she enters the bathroom. 

About 30 minutes later, Josie is ready and goes back to her room where Hope is still sleeping. She sits down on her computer quietly, trying not to wake the girl up, and decides to check her grade for one very important assignment for her Data Science class that she had handed in last week. 

Josie immediately stiffens when she opens up the file with the grade. It’s a C. She’s never gotten a C before in any of her classes. The girl immediately feels like a total failure and is on the verge of tears. 

By some weird miracle or something, Hope ends up waking up at that moment and notices Josie on  the computer. The auburn-haired girl pulls herself up and stretches her arms. 

"Jo? What’s up?" the girl asks when she sees Josie just staring blankly at her computer screen, her voice still raspy and very hot. "Everything okay?"

Josie  ignores her, though. She  doesn’t say a word or move at all,  but just continues sitting there, staring at her screen. So many thoughts go through her mind at that moment. She wonders what she did wrong to get such a low grade and what she can possibly do to fix this. She starts overthinking things at this point and imagines how she goes to talk to her professor and asks him for extra assignments or something, she also imagines how she’s writing him a very long and detailed email. Josie is only snapped out of her thoughts when she feels a hand on her shoulder. The girl turns around and sees Hope next to her, looking very much concerned. 

"Are you okay?" Hope asks her again, but Josie still doesn’t say anything. She just points at her computer screen so the girl could look. When Hope sees the grade, she gasps. "Oh my god, a C? Seriously? Who in their right mind would give a genius like you such a grade?"

Being called a genius usually makes Josie smile and kind of maybe boosts up her confidence a little bit, but this time, it just makes her feel more of a failure, because exactly, if she was a genius, she wouldn’t get such a grade. Josie feels like she shouldn’t think so highly of herself. She’s no genius at all.

"I’ve never gotten a C before," Josie blurts out after a few seconds, her voice low and it feels as if she’s about to cry any second. 

"Don’t worry, baby," Hope reassures her and places her arms around the girl while Josie is still sitting on the chair. "Everything will be okay. You’ll manage to fix it. I believe in you!"

Josie enjoys Hope comforting her. It’s one of the best feelings in the world and it makes her feel like she can accomplish anything. After hearing a few words of encouragement from the girl, Josie gets motivated to solve any task that the world throws at her. 

"You’re right. I’ll definitely get on that," Josie says with a determined voice which makes Hope smile.

"That’s my girl," she tells her and tightens her hold on the girl. "Show that professor who’s boss!"

"I most certainly will! He doesn’t know who he is messing with!"

Hope adores how determined Josie can get sometimes. It’s something that she really likes about the girl,  among other things of course .  She likes so many things about Josie that if she had to list them,  she would needs such a long long piece of paper . She adores how passionate  Josie is  a bout everything , how enthusiastic  when it comes to her studies,  and how when she sets her mind on something, she doesn’t stop until she finishe s it . 

Hope isn’t really like that.  She can definitely procrastinate quite a bit. There is still one painting that she hasn’t finished for the past three weeks or something. She just doesn’t feel like finishing it and can’t get motivated, so she wishes she was more like Josie in that sense. The last time she was determined when it came to her painting was during the Wine and Paint event. Before that she can recall one other occasion, when she painted Josie. The painting which is still sitting inside the storage room in her gallery. Hope makes a mental note to give it to Josie as a present soon. 

"I need to get ready for work," Hope informs Josie when she eventually notices what the time is. She doesn’t give her a kiss because she hasn’t brushed her teeth yet. "I’m gonna be late if I don’t hurry."

Josie immediately stops what she’s doing and looks at Hope with a sad pouty expression. "Don’t I get a kiss?"

"I haven’t brushed my teeth, baby," Hope says with a chuckle.

"Fine, go brush them and come give me a kiss, okay?" 

Hope laughs and then starts heading for the bathroom.  " Okay, okay… "

About 15 minutes later Hope is done and comes back only to find Josie eagerly waiting for her near the door. The moment she walks inside the room, the brunette practically jumps on her. The kiss they share starts to get heated as Josie presses the girl against the wall, almost knocking off a few items along the way. 

"By the way, it’s so hot when you call me baby," Josie tells the girl in between kisses as her hands find their way under Hope’s shirt, her fingers tracing the girl’s toned stomach.

Hope smirks and  then continues kissing Josie.  Her  hands are tangled in the girl’s brown locks  and she finds herself moaning softly at the feeling of Josie caressing her bare skin.

"Fuck…" Hope says as Josie then starts kissing her neck and finds that sweet spot that makes her go crazy. 

"Josette!" Lizzie yells out suddenly from the living room. "I need you here now. Help me choose a picture for my fans!"

"Damn it," Josie mutters under her breath and stops kissing Hope’s neck, feeling frustrated because all she wants to do is have some sexy time with the girl. 

Hope chuckles when she sees the pouty expression on the brunette’s face. "We’ll continue this later, baby," she then tells her and gives her a peck on the lips.

"I’ll hold you on to that." Josie winks at her and then opens the door to go help her twin sister please her crazy Instagram followers.

Hope is then left alone inside the room. A sigh leaves the girl’s mouth because now she has no other choice but to continue getting ready to head off to her gallery. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lizzie's break up with Sebastian is kinda based on something that happened to me this past week with this girl. It's not entirely the same, but like just the part where he led her on and then dumped her for no apparent reason. That shit is rough... It's why I took so long with this chapter. I'm still trying to get my shit together and move on, but I'm definitely feeling better now. Yay!
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. <3 Hosie rainkiss y'all <3 
> 
> Thank you all for following the story, always leaving kudos and comments. You guys are awesome! ^-^ 
> 
> Stay safe everyone and take care of yourselves! <3


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!! <3

The only thing Liz Forbes has ever wanted for her granddaughters was for them to be happy and healthy. After everything they’ve been through with their mom dying and their deadbeat alcoholic father disappearing, that’s the only thing the old woman has been hoping for. So when Josie finally got together with Hope, it brought immense joy to Liz. Now if only she could see her other granddaughter happy as well, then her life would truly be complete.

Liz hasn’t told Josie this, but she’s been having a really difficult time dealing with the fact that she hasn’t seen the blonde girl in such a long time. She wishes things were different, for Lizzie to be able to come visit her, but unfortunately, her granddaughter’s busy schedule has been keeping her away. That’s what Josie has been telling her at least, and of course, Liz believes every little bit of information that the girl gives her.

A wide smile graces the old woman’s face as she thinks of all the places Lizzie has traveled to and all the beautiful postcards she has received from her. Liz stores them in a special wooden box inside her dresser and looks through them from time to time.

Liz gets up from the bed she’s been on for the past hour with Frank and decides to take out said wooden box to look at the postcards once more. The old man looks at her with a smile, knowing exactly what she’s about to do. He adores how much the woman cares about her granddaughters. Even though he hasn’t met Lizzie, he firmly believes that she’s a wonderful person, just like Josie.

Liz takes out the wooden box and brings it to the bed where Frank is waiting for her, then opens it up carefully and takes out its contents. The woman starts looking through the stack of postcards from inside it. They are all so beautiful, but some of them just stand out.

There’s one from almost every country in the world, but her favorite is definitely with the Eiffel Tower. France has always been Liz’s favorite country and she finds Paris just the most beautiful and romantic city. She’s been there with her late husband multiple times. With a smile so bright that can almost challenge the sun, Liz shows it to Frank along with some or her other favorite ones from Spain and Italy. She also adores a few Asian ones. There is a really beautiful one with Tokyo Tower on it and one with the Han River in South Korea.

The woman then proceeds with telling Frank some of Lizzie’s adventures that Josie has told her about. She talks with such joy about them that it instantly makes the man fall even more in love with her.

As she’s in the middle of telling him about one of Lizzie’s adventures in China, the door is slowly opened and Liz brightens even more when she sees Josie and Hope walking inside the room.

"My wonderful girls!" Liz happily exclaims and quickly rushes to get off the bed and hug both of them.

"We love you too grandma," Josie tells her lovingly while Hope is just chuckling at how sweet the old woman is.

As soon as they pull away from each other, Liz gets back on the bed next to Frank who greets the two girls as well with a little wave and a smile. Hope and Josie grab a chair each and then sit down in front of the older couple.

"Frank, go get us some hot chocolate from downstairs, will you, darling?" Liz sweetly asks the man who immediately does what she wants without any protest. Honestly, he’d do anything for that woman.

"Sure thing," Franks responds and then gets off the bed and leaves the room.

"Ah, my favorite couple." Liz winks at both of them. "How are you doing?"

Josie smiles and gently places her hand on top of Hope’s. "We’re great, grandma. Hope has been really sweet to me and treating me well."

The auburn-haired girl blushes and looks away as soon as Josie says that. It’s true, though. Hope has been nothing but supportive and loving towards Josie, even after all the shit that went down with Lizzie.

"That’s wonderful," Liz happily exclaims. "I’m so happy."

"Yeah, it’s been perfect," Hope says and finally looks at the older woman. "I mean, as much as it could be, now that Lizzie is here, it’s been a bit more difficult-"

"Wait!" Liz interrupts her immediately at the mention of her granddaughter. "Lizzie is here?"

Josie panics as soon as she hears her grandmother asking about her twin. "Uhm, oh… she’s back from her trip just for a little while, grandma."

"Will she have time to come visit me?" Liz asks Josie, her voice hopeful and the brunette swears that she can see that little sparke in her grandma’s eyes.

Josie feels so guilty that she’s lying to her grandma, but there is no way in hell that she can tell her the truth about why Lizzie hasn’t been visiting her.

"I’m sorry, grandma, but she won’t really have the time. Her schedule is really packed."

Hope is really confused as to why Josie is lying to her grandma about Lizzie, but she chooses not to say anything about it at the moment. Seeing how the brunette panicked earlier and quickly made up some excuse was enough for the auburn-haired girl to know that Josie doesn’t want her grandma to know the truth. Hope is wondering why, though. She knows that apparently Lizzie doesn’t visit the older woman at all, but she has never really asked much about the reason why.

"It’s alright. At least I can always count on you to tell me about Lizzie’s adventures," Liz takes a deep breath and says, trying to stop herself from crying in front of the two girls. She can’t let them know that she’s not okay with the fact that Lizzie isn’t visiting her at all.

Hope is now even more confused at the mention of Lizzie’s adventures. As far as she knows, Josie has never mentioned to her that her sister is traveling or anything like that.

"You’ve been looking at the postcards?" Josie asks, finally noticing the box and the postcards on the bed.

"Yes, I was showing Frank and telling him the stories that you told me," Liz explains to her granddaughter and takes the stack of postcards in her hands. The woman then turns to Hope and asks her, "Hope, has Josie told you about Lizzie’s adventures?"

Hope immediately shakes her head. "No, she’s never mentioned it."

The auburn-haired girl then turns to Josie and gives her a look. Josie tries not to meet her gaze, because Hope’s voice sounded a little bit pissed-off. She knows that as soon as they leave the senior citizens home that she’ll have to explain everything to Hope. Josie is a bit worried that the auburn-haired girl would think of her as a bad person because she’s keeping the truth from her grandma, but there’s nothing she can do now.

Before Liz can say anything or start showing Hope the postcards, Frank comes back with three cups of hot chocolate.

"I brought a sweet delight for you three lovely ladies," the old man says loudly and gives them each a cup.

Both Hope and Josie thank him while Liz gives him a kiss on the lips to express her gratitude. The topic of conversation is then changed because Frank starts telling them about why he took so long bringing the hot chocolate. After that they look through the postcards, play some chess and before they know it, it’s 19 o’clock. Time flies...

Hope and Josie bid goodbye to Liz and Frank with smiles on their faces and start making their way to the bus stop. They’re quiet at first, but Hope can’t really keep it in anymore. She’s dying to know why Josie said all those things to Liz.

"Why did you lie to your grandma about Lizzie?" Hope suddenly asks Josie directly, making the brunette let out a long sigh.

"It’s better this way. I don’t want to hurt her by telling her the truth," Josie answers the girl, feeling that pang of guilt in her chest after being confronted about it.

"It’s still wrong, though," Hope tells her as they continue walking towards the bus stop. "I know that I’d want to know the truth if I was in her place."

"I can’t tell her, Hope. It would break her heart," Josie’s voice shakes as she speaks and she sounds like she’s on the verge of tears now. "I can’t tell her that Lizzie doesn’t come to visit because old people depress her. I’ve fought with my sister multiple times about this. She just doesn’t want to come visit grandma and that’s it. So I made up an excuse for her."

Hope understands Josie’s reason for lying. She still thinks it’s better to tell the truth, but she won’t force Josie to do it and she won’t tell Liz herself. Hope thinks that it’s better to not overstep her boundaries.

"I understand," Hope tells her and doesn’t say anything more. They stay silent for the rest of the walk and when they reach the bus stop, Josie decides to start speaking again.

"Do you think I’m a bad person?"

Hope is definitely a little surprised by the question, because she didn’t intend to make Josie feel like that by asking about her grandma and Lizzie.

"No, of course not," Hope quickly tells her and Josie visibly relaxes as soon as she hears those words. The auburn-haired girl moves closer to her and takes her hands in her own. "I could never think of you as a bad person, Jo. You’re the sweetest and most thoughtful person I know, and even though I don’t approve of you lying to your grandma, it still doesn’t make you a bad person."

Josie feels her cheeks heat up at the compliments Hope gives her. She is still trying to get used to all of this, someone caring about her and seeing her in such a beautiful way.

"I’m glad," Josie says with a cheeky smile and then finds herself slowly leaning in.

Hope stares at the brunette’s gorgeous lips as Josie comes closer. She immediately finds herself meeting the girl halfway and presses her lips firmly against Josie’s. At that moment Hope swears that she can never get enough of the girl. Kissing her is like a drug, so damn addicting, and she needs her fix so badly. Their lips move in sync with each other hungrily as if it’s the first time they’re experiencing this.

"You’re so perfect, baby," Hope whispers lovingly against the brunette’s lips and Josie feels like she’s on cloud nine at that moment. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that someone could see her in that way, could feel so strongly about her and make her experience things to such an extent.

Josie lets out soft little moans as the kiss deepens further. Hope absolutely loves the sounds that the brunette is making. She feels intoxicated by Josie, by her sweet lips, by the actual feeling of being with her. Hope longs for her and needs her. If she can always have her like this, then she’d be the happiest person in this goddamn world.

The two girls pull apart from each other after a few minutes when the bus ends up arriving right on schedule. Without letting go of Josie‘s hand and with a wide smile on her face, Hope then leads the brunette towards the door of the vehicle and they get on it.

Hope and Josie go to their usual seat on the bus, both feeling immensely happy. The brunette rests her head on Hope’s shoulder and closes her eyes as the vehicle moves towards their destination.

"You didn’t tell me much about your trip to the vet today by the way," Hope quietly says about a minute later and gently caresses the back of Josie’s hand with her thumb.

"It wasn’t anything interesting. I told you over the chat that the doctor told me that Pongo is perfectly healthy and that it wasn’t really necessary for him to stay the night," Josie explains to her without opening her eyes. She feels so relaxed in this position that they are in. It’s probably one of her favorites.

Hope lets out a sigh. She’s glad that her puppy is healthy, but she doesn’t regret leaving him at the vet overnight. She wanted to be absolutely certain that things were alright. "I know it was just a checkup, but you can never be too careful. That’s why I chose to let him stay there for the night, just to be sure."

Josie chuckles. "You worry too much sometimes, babe."

"Yeah, I’m kinda like that." Hope intertwines their fingers. "Especially when it comes to someone I care deeply about."

"Mmm…" Josie lets out and gives Hope’s hand a light squeeze.

Hope then places a soft kiss on the girl’s forehead, making the brunette feel so warm and loved with that gesture. Josie smiles and just enjoys this moment, the way her hand feels in Hope’s, the girl’s lips against her skin, and the lovely scent of her perfume.

They don’t say anything more after that and just wait for the bus to arrive at their stop. They have an eventful night that awaits them after they get off, because Lizzie had surprisingly invited them to a fashion show that the models she’s coaching are taking part in.

Josie definitely doesn’t want to go to one of those, but she’s trying to get along with her sister as much as possible. She recalls a chat that they had today after Hope left for the gallery and before Josie went to pick up Pongo. The talk they had was serious and for the first time in a long while, Lizzie was understanding. She had promised Josie that she’ll attempt to make an effort when it comes to Hope, so the brunette will try to be even more understanding towards her twin than she already has been.

When the two girls reach the apartment, they are immediately greeted with Pongo’s cheerful bark. The cute puppy runs up to them, wagging its tail, and it just fills both their hearts with such love and happiness.

Hope chuckles and then lifts the puppy up, letting it lick her face.

"I missed you so much, Pongo."

Lizzie isn’t at the apartment at that moment because she’s already at the fashion show event, helping the models prepare, so Hope and Josie have the place to themselves and they can get ready in peace. They end up going into their separate rooms to look for something appropriate to wear for the event.

Hope doesn’t really waste too much time on that, because she has a few dresses that she usually wears to events, so it wasn’t hard for her to pick an outfit. The girl decides to put on the elegant blue dress that she wore to her last art show at the gallery. It’s perfect for tonight in her opinion. Plus, it makes her look super hot and hopefully Josie won’t be able to keep her eyes off her.

Meanwhile, the brunette is definitely struggling in the other room. This is the first time Lizzie had invited her to one of the fashion shows that the models in her agency are taking part in, and Josie has absolutely no idea what she’s supposed to wear.

"Maybe there are some tips online," Josie says out loud and quickly goes on her computer and types in ‘What to wear to fashion show?’ on Google. The first result that pops up is an article on a website called Leaf, so Josie immediately clicks on it and starts reading. She quickly skims through the article to get an understanding of it. "Okay, so I have 3 choices. I either keep it casual, wear a dress or go for this edgy look with the leather jacket."

Josie then gets up from her seat and goes to her closet. She doesn’t really like wearing dresses, so she searches through her clothes for something casual. The article says that she should get her favorite pair of skinny jeans and pair them with a V-neck tee. She definitely has those. After about a minute, Josie finally finds a pair of skinny jeans and a cute black V-neck tee. 

"Perfect!" Josie says out loud excitedly and quickly puts them on. She also grabs her (Hope’s) leather jacket as well and feels ready for the event. 

A few minutes later, the brunette hears a knock on her door and Hope’s voice from the other side. "Jo, are you ready?" 

"Yeah, I am. You can come in!" she says and waits for the auburn-haired girl to open the door. 

The moment Hope enters the room and Josie sees the beautiful girl approach her with a wide smile on her face, she knows that she’s an absolute gonner. Hope is like a literal Goddess and Josie cannot take her eyes off her.

"Fuck…" Josie manages to say, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. She definitely remembers this dress that Hope is wearing. She has seen it on her once when they were on the bus before they knew anything about each other. Josie recalls how attracted she felt to Hope at that moment, but it’s nothing compared to what she feels towards her now.

Hope smirks the moment she sees the brunette’s reaction. "Like what you see, baby?"

"I uh... I uhm…"

Hope gives her the most seductive look that Josie has seen in her entire life as she moves closer. A few seconds later, her face is inches away from the brunette’s.

"Hmm? Do you?" she asks again and gently traces Josie’s jawline with her fingertips.

Josie gulps and then opens her mouth to speak again, barely managing to get a single word out. "Yes..."

Hope stares hungrily at Josie and moves her fingers  slowly to the side of the brunette’s neck, making her let out a cute little moan. The auburn-haired girl definitely enjoys that sound. Hope then starts planting soft kisses all over Josie’s neck. One of the brunette’s hands find their way to Hope’s waist while the other goes to her hair and her fingers end up tangled in the girl’s auburn locks. 

"I like what I see too, by the way," Hope quietly says against Josie’s neck and continues kissing it, slowly sending the girl over the edge. "Mmm, how mad would your sister be if we just skip the fashion show altogether?"

Josie tries to register what Hope is saying, but it’s so hard to assimilate anything when a beautiful girl is kissing your neck. 

"I…" Josie tries to say something. She’s breathing heavily at this point and wants nothing more than for Hope to just fuck her right then and there.

Josie’s phone then starts vibrating loudly on top of her desk. Damn it…

"Interrupted once again," Hope says as Josie quickly goes to check who’s calling.

"It’s Lizzie," she says as soon as she glances at the screen with her sister’s name and picture there. 

"Where are you?" Lizzie immediately asks as soon as Josie picks up the call. 

Josie lets out a sigh and clears her throat, "Still at home with Hope."

"Well move your asses down here. The show will start soon," Lizzie tells her and then hangs up. She doesn’t even wait for Josie to say anything back and just assumes that her sister will do as she’s told.

Josie then looks at Hope and sighs once again. "To answer your question, she’ll be very angry if we skip the fashion show…"

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hope and Josie make their way inside the large room where the fashion show event is held and immediately feel overwhelmed by the amount of people inside. There is loud music booming  in there , making their hearts race, and gorgeous skinny models doing the catwalk while wearing the most elegant of clothes. 

It’s definitely not their kind of scene, but the two girls won’t leave. Lizzie would kill them if they did that. Their plan is to stay long enough, so that the blonde is pleased and then make their getaway back to the apartment.  Hopefully everything will go perfectly.

"You’re late," Lizzie states as soon as Hope and Josie manage to find her among the many visitors.

"We got a bit caught up at the apartment," Josie explains to her sister and feels her cheeks immediately heat up when she remembers how Hope was kissing her neck before.

Lizzie doesn’t fail to notice that.  "Uh-huh…"

The three of them turn their attention to the fashion show afterwards and of course, Lizzie doesn’t hesitate to point out what her models do incorrectly and how she’ll have to scold them afterwards when they come to the office tomorrow.

Both Hope and Josie don’t really pay attention to her and just let the blonde talk and talk. At one point, though, Lizzie stops talking and Hope hears a very familiar voice saying something to the blonde, one that she didn’t think she’ll hear at such an event. 

The auburn-haired girl turns towards Lizzie and her eyes catch sight of her ex-boyfriend Landon Kirby talking to her. Hope feels all color drain from her face at that moment. 

"Landon, what are you doing here?" she asks immediately and you can sense the animosity in her voice. Lizzie and Landon both turn around to look at Hope. The blonde is somewhat surprised that the girl said something while Landon looks at her as if he’s probably dying on the inside. Her having that effect on him is not something new. He’s always been so obsessed with her. The question that Hope asks the boy also catches Josie’s attention, mainly because of the mention of his name, and the brunette immediately feels like she wants to light the guy on fire.

"He’s my new assistant at the modeling agency," Lizzie answers the question before the curly-haired boy can say anything. 

Landon just  forces a smile and afterwards says, "I started a few days ago."

"Since when are you interested in fashion and modeling?" Hope asks him, incredibly surprised that her ex would even consider working at such a job position. He’s never showed any interest in these things when they were dating. Josie feels even more jealous because of the fact that Hope continues asking questions.

"I’ve decided to try something new."

Hope doesn’t know whether she should believe that or not, but she decides not to say anything more about the topic.

"How do you two know each other?" Lizzie suddenly asks very curiously. She definitely senses the tension and wants to know what relations they have to one another.

"We used to date," both Hope and Landon answer together, making Josie feel like she’s about to explode.

T he brunette wants to speak up, do something to show Landon that Hope is now with her, that he is the one who lost, but she doesn’t say or do anything. She just stands there with that awful feeling at the pit of her stomach. 

Hope doesn’t like the fact that Landon is Lizzie’s assistant even one bit. She’s worried that the boy might talk trash about her to the blonde, which would probably make Lizzie dislike her even more. 

"Wow, you really have bad taste," Lizzie suddenly blurts out, not really thinking about how rude that comment sounds, considering her sister is dating Hope now. 

Landon feels very offended when he hears that, but he doesn’t say anything back at Lizzie, because she’s his boss and he doesn’t want to get fired from his job. He’s finally getting his life together and slowly paying off his debts. He definitely cannot afford to be unemployed.

"Gee, thanks Lizzie," Josie finally speaks up, angry at her sister for saying such a thing.

The blonde finally realizes what she had said and corrects herself immediately, "I mean taste in men, sorry."

"So you two are together?" Landon asks and looks intensely at both Hope and Josie. He feels very pissed off because of the fact that Hope has replaced him, and with a girl no less.

"Yes, we are."

Landon bitterly laughs but doesn’t say anything after hearing Hope’s answer. He wants to tell her that she made the wrong choice by not taking him back and because she’s with a girl who, in his opinion, cannot satisfy her needs like he could. 

Hope knows that laugh very well. She’s heard it so many times, especially when Landon used to mock her about something. Hope hated it so much because it made her feel absolutely terrible, like nothing she did was good enough. Right now, she feels like Landon is making fun of her being with Josie and not him, as if he’s way better than the brunette, and it makes Hope angry if he really believes that. 

The auburn-haired girl wants to scream at him, but they’re at a fashion show event and she knows that she shouldn’t cause a scene. 

Josie catches on the fact that Hope is extremely upset and feels like she wants to turn Landon into a crispy chicken. She hates the guy even more than Roman Sienna. The brunette grabs Hope’s hand in reassurance, but the girl pulls it away from her.

"I need some air," Hope suddenly announces and then starts walking away from them.

"Hope, wait!" Josie yells out. She turns to give Landon a death glare and then starts following the girl outside the building.

"Stop causing drama and do your job. I need you to identify all the mistakes that the models are making and write a report on it," Lizzie orders him when they are left alone together and then turns her attention back to the show. "I want it on my desk by 12 PM tomorrow. Understood?"

"You got it, boss," Landon tells her and starts doing what his boss ordered him. 

Meanwhile, outside the building, Hope feels like she’s about to have a nervous breakdown after everything that happened with Landon. 

When Josie finally catches up to her, she puts her hand on the auburn-haired girl’s shoulder and is about to say something reassuring, but Hope suddenly starts speaking.

"I want to go home..." Hope is practically on the verge of tears at this point. 

"Come on," Josie says and grabs the girl’s hand once again, then starts pulling her towards the direction of a few taxis that are nearby. Hope immediately complies without any sort of protest this time. "There are taxis over there. We’ll grab one and get home quickly, okay?"

Hope doesn’t answer that and just follows Josie without saying absolutely anything. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo.. Landon's back this chapter... :D Surprise! :D Ahem.. okay so.. Hosie keep getting interrupted during sexy time, but don't worry... They'll finally get their alone time next chapter. It'll have a lot of romance, fluff, maybe some smutt :3 we'll see how it goes.. :D Stay tuned!
> 
> Thank you all for the support. I'm glad that you're following this story, leaving comments, subscribing, giving kudos, bookmarking, etc... It makes me feel wonderful. <3
> 
> Stay safe, everyone!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy everyone! <3
> 
> There's smut in this chapter.

Hope and Josie are slowly making their way up the stairs to their apartment. They’ve been silent inside the taxi throughout the whole ride to the building and now neither of them is saying anything again as they walk up.

Hope feels absolutely horrible at that moment because of all the shit that went down with her ex-boyfriend and she wants nothing more than to just forget about it. She cannot believe that he is working as Lizzie’s assistant and right now she has a million different thoughts running through her head. Hope wonders what kind of awful lies Landon is saying to Lizzie about her at the event. She wouldn’t be surprised if Lizzie starts disliking her even more after this. The auburn-haired girl hopes that that won’t be the case, but it’s highly unlikely in her opinion. 

Josie is worried about Hope so much. She has never seen her in such a bad state, not to this extent anyway, and it’s killing her on the inside. The brunette wants nothing more than to comfort Hope and make her feel so protected and loved, because she deserves nothing less than that. Hopefully, the little surprise that she has planned for the girl at the apartment would cheer her up and take her mind off the shit that went down at the fashion show event. 

Josie unlocks the door and leads Hope inside the apartment. She switches on the light and they both start taking off their jackets. Hope feels tired and just wants to do something chill with Josie to take her mind off things and just relax, maybe cuddle on the couch and watch something on Netflix, or in bed, that works too. 

When they walk inside the living room, though, Hope immediately inhales the sweet scent of lavender coming from the candles that are lit up all over the place. The atmosphere looks perfect and the soft flicker of candle light is enough to make Hope’s heart instantly race. 

“Jo…” Hope utters as her eyes dart around the room in disbelief. Other than the candles, she notices rose petals scattered all over the floor, arranged in such a way that makes out a heart with the letters J and H in the middle of it. 

Hope is just speechless because of the whole sight. She feels as if she’s in a movie at that moment and thinks about how lucky she is that she has a beautiful romantic person like Josie in her life that would go out of her way to do such a wonderful thing for her. The auburn-haired girl opens her mouth to say something, but before she can, Josie looks at her with hopeful eyes and starts speaking.

“Do you like it?” the brunette asks and gently bites down on her lower lip because of nervousness and excitement at the same time. 

Hope turns to her and smiles, her eyes just instantly lighting up. “It’s perfect. I love it.” 

Josie gently squeezes Hope’s hand and closes her eyes when she sees the girl lean in for a soft gentle kiss. As soon as their lips meet, they forget about everything else and just focus on each other. All of the shit that went down previously at the fashion show event, all of the problems that came with Lizzie’s return, everything just disappears like that and all that matters is just the two of them.

Hope has never been treated this way by anyone and she feels so grateful to have Josie, a person that cares so much about her, who always asks if she’s okay and does these cute romantic things for her. To her Josie is someone who is showing her every single day that she is worth it, that she matters and that she deserves all the love and care in the world. Honestly, it just warms up Hope on the inside and makes her heart flutter. The night immediately turns into one of the most amazing nights she’s ever experienced. Screw Landon, the fashion show, Lizzie and everything bad that happened that day. Josie is all that matters now…

When the two girls pull away from the kiss, they look into each other’s eyes for a little bit longer, both smiling and being cute adorable dorks who are just mad for each other. Josie is absolutely in love with the blue color that she sees, but it’s nothing compared to Hope’s beauty in general. The auburn-haired girl is the most gorgeous person that she’s ever seen and she cannot believe how lucky she is to be able to hold her in her arms and kiss her. 

“How did you pull this off? When?” Hope curiously asks, the smile never leaving her beautiful angelic face. “You were with me all this time.”

Josie lets out a light chuckle. “MG helped me out. I had him prepare this around 30 minutes after we left for the event.”

“It’s amazing.”

Josie is definitely pleased with Hope’s reaction to the surprise. She had wanted to do this for a long time with someone, just prepare something special, so that they could have a wonderful magical night. There is no other person that she wants to share this with other than Hope.

“With everything that happened recently, I just wanted to do something nice for you,” Josie explains to her as she wraps her arms around Hope’s waist and then pulls her closer.

Hope feels like her smile can’t absolutely get any wider than this. “I really appreciate it, Josie. You’re very romantic,” she then tells her and then lovingly tucks a strand behind the brunette’s ear. “I just hope our alone time is not going to get interrupted as usual.”

“It won’t,” Josie reassures her, her voice filled with so much determination. “Lizzie will be at some party after the event, so she won’t be home until tomorrow. We have the place all to ourselves.”

A playful smirk appears on Hope’s face as soon as she hears the brunette tell her that. “I like the sound of that. So what are we possibly going to fill our time with?”

Hope’s voice sounds so seductive all of a sudden that Josie nearly chokes. She’s trying hard to stop herself from jumping the girl right then and there. 

“Well, I kinda made a schedule of activities for us,” Josie tells her, trying to sound seductive as well, but it just comes out super nerdy. Hope doesn’t mind, though. She thinks it’s rather sexy actually.

Hope moves her lips closer to Josie’s ear and her warm breath nearly makes the brunette blackout. 

“So what is the first activity on this schedule of yours?” Hope whispers as she continues on with being playful.

“Uhm…” Josie starts saying but having Hope so close like this, breathing against her ear like a hungry wolf, is making her feel nervous. “A nice warm bath.”

Hope finds Josie’s behavior so amusing at that moment. She definitely continues with the teasing after she hears the brunette’s answer to her question. “A bath, huh?”

“Yeah. It can help you relax.”

That is something Hope definitely needs. She woudn’t say no to a nice warm bath. What would make it even better would be if Josie was inside the tub with her. She’d definitely love that. So Hope finds herself asking the brunette just that. 

“And will you be joining me?”

As soon as Hope says those words, Josie’s mind becomes overwhelmed with images of her and Hope doing so many things in that bathtub. 

The brunette tries hard to stay calm, even though she’s going crazy on the inside, and then attempts to be playful as well, just like Hope. “Only if you want me to, babe.”

Hope loves Josie’s answer. “I definitely want you to.”

“I’ll go prepare the bathtub then,” the brunette tells her and finally pulls away from the gorgeous girl. She doesn’t even attempt to hide the excitement in her voice. “Can you pour us some wine?”

“Definitely,” Hope answers and moves closer to the table where there’s a bottle of wine with two empty glasses next to it. 

Josie sends her a wink and then quickly gets out of the living room. When she goes inside the bathroom to get the bathtub filled up and prepared for her and Hope, she lets out a sigh. 

“Get it together, Josie,” the girl mutters to herself. “You’ve got this!”

While the brunette prepares everything in the bathroom, Hope doesn’t waste much time in opening up the bottle of wine. She feels amazing at that moment because the thought of doing all of this with Josie makes her so happy. She needs this so much right now.

Around 15-20 minutes later, both girls find themselves inside the bathtub with Hope leaning back against the brunette’s front. The wine glasses are next to them and they’re having a sip from time to time. Hope can feel the girl’s breasts against her skin and Josie’s arms wrapped around her body. It’s absolutely magical in her opinion. She feels so relaxed just having Josie hold her like that. 

They stay that way for a while before Josie decides to move on to the next activity on her schedule – giving Hope a massage. 

“Babe, move forward a little,” Josie tells the girl softly and then her hands slowly start making their way up the girl’s body. Hope does as she’s told without any questions. At that moment, she feels as if she’ll do absolutely anything Josie tells her to do. The brunette then places her hands on the girl’s shoulders and slowly starts massaging them. 

“Oh god,” Hope immediately says and lets out a moan that sounds so damn pornographic. It definitely doesn’t go unnoticed by Josie and it has her smirking. She’s definitely satisfied with the noises that come out of the girl’s mouth.

“You’re really tense, babe,” Josie tells her and presses her fingers a bit harder against the girl’s shoulders. “How does this feel? Do you like it?”

“Mmm, definitely,” Hope replies immediately and breathes in deeply before exhaling. She continues letting out some really sexy moans as Josie manages to hit just the right spots on her shoulders. “You’re so amazing.”

A few minutes later, Josie moves one of her hands away from Hope’s shoulder and to her breasts, then gently cups one of them  and starts playing with it . That makes the auburn-haired girl immediately hold her breath. Josie smirks because she loves how Hope is reacting to everything she’s doing. It definitely makes her feel braver and allows her to continue going further, so she starts planting kisses all over the girl’s shoulder and neck. 

Hope soon finds herself impatiently turning around and pressing her lips against Josie’s. She feels such an incredible need to taste her lips at that moment. It’s definitely one of the most passionate kisses the two girls have ever shared with each other. Hope’s hand goes to Josie’s neck and she deepens the kiss, sliding her tongue inside the girl’s mouth while the brunette doesn’t stop playing with her boobs. Hope moans in between the kiss when she feels Josie’s thumb circling one of her nipples. 

Josie pulls away soon after and asks, “Does that feel good, babe?”

“Yeah,” Hope barely manages to reply to her question. Josie smirks when she hears the answer and then leans forward to kiss the girl’s neck. She starts sucking on a really sensitive spot there that has Hope’s breath hitch and her nails dig deep into Josie’s skin because of the amount of pleasure she’s experiencing. “Fuck, Josie…”

Josie leaves a few marks on the girl’s neck before slowly moving her mouth lower and lower until it reaches one of Hope’s nipples. When the auburn-haired girl feels Josie’s tongue around it, she lets out a shaky breath. The brunette then takes it into her mouth, which immediately sends Hope over the edge. 

“Fuck,” she swears and her fingers get tangled into Josie’s hair as the brunette keeps on giving her such an insane amount of pleasure.

A few minutes later, Josie pulls away and gives Hope one of the most seductive looks she’s ever given her. The brunette then says, “Ready for the next activity on my schedule?”

“Yes,” Hope immediately replies while breathing heavily, impatient to find out what Josie has planned next.

“Sit up here,” Josie instructs her and points at the edge of the bathtub. The girl immediately does as she’s told and sits there while her back is now pressed against the bathroom wall. “Now spread your legs for me, baby.”

Hope follows the instructions and Josie licks her lips as she stares at the gorgeous girl before her. She wants her so badly, like she’s never wanted anything else in her life.

Josie then starts placing kisses on the inside of Hope’s thighs and slowly moving towards the area the girl wants to be kissed the most. The moment Hope feels Josie’s tongue down there, she grips the edges of the bathtub hard and moans loudly.

“Oh my god,” she yells out, making Josie feel pleased with herself. The brunette moves her tongue against Hope’s clit and it absolutely drives Hope insane, so she closes her eyes and leans her head against wall before moving her hips forward so she could press herself harder against Josie’s mouth. 

The brunette grips Hope’s thighs harder as she continues eating her out and the auburn-haired girl swears that she’s never felt such a great amount of pleasure before in her life. Josie is a goddess in her opinion for doing this to her and Hope absolutely cannot stop moaning her name. 

It doesn’t take long for the girl to reach one of the best orgasms she’s ever experienced in her life, and it’s all thanks to Josie. 

“You okay, babe?” Josie asks her lovingly afterwards and smiles as she lifts herself up, so her face would be at the same level as Hope’s.

“Yeah,” Hope tells her breathlessly. “You’re absolutely perfect.”

A few minutes later, the two girls fix up everything inside the bathroom, then get dressed and head back to the living room. They end up cuddling on the couch and watching  a show on  Netflix. Hope plays with one of Josie’s hands and her fingers, thinking about everything that happened. It was just what she needed to relax and get rid of all that built up tension that she had.

“I adore you so much. You know that, right?” Hope tells the girl suddenly, making Josie smile. 

“Yeah, it’s kinda obvious.”

Hope starts to chuckle and gently caress the back of Josie’s hand with her fingers. She really is pretty obvious when she thinks about it. Hope wants to hold Josie in her arms all the time, to kiss her and do absolutely everything with her. When she looks at Josie, she sees the most beautiful and amazing person in the world, someone so sweet and romantic, and willing to go to the ends of the world for her. Hope absolutely adores everything about the brunette.

At around 1 AM, the two girls find themselves in Josie’s room on her bed, holding each other. They checked off all the activities on the brunette’s schedule for their perfect night.

“I had never had sex in a bathtub before by the way,” Hope blurts out suddenly, surprising Josie with her little confession.

Josie chuckles and pulls Hope’s body closer. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Hope replies and hides her face in Josie’s neck. “This was a new experience for me.”

“A good one, right?” Josie finds herself asking, even though she knows the answer already. Judging from Hope’s moans earlier, it was definitely a good experience for her.

“It was absolutely perfect.”

Despite everything, Josie lets out a relieved sigh. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“I’m the only one that orgasmed, though,” Hope says against the girl’s neck and then starts planting soft kisses all over her bare skin. Josie immediately holds her breath because the feeling of the girl’s lips are overwhelming. God, she loves neck kisses so much, especially when Hope is the one giving them. “Let’s do something about that.”

Hope’s hand then sneaks under Josie’s pajama top and her fingers slowly move over her stomach. The brunette feels her heart start racing and lets out a small whimper because of Hope touching her like this. A few seconds later, Hope brings herself up and moves on top of Josie, now straddling her. She then dives in to kiss the girl’s soft lips. Hope  just makes Josie feel so elated at that moment. The brunette starts moving her own lips in sync with hers as she reciprocates the kiss. It’s magical and gets even more amazing when Hope’s tongue asks for entrance to her mouth. Josie immediately obliges because who could deny the sexy goddess that is Hope Mikaelson.

Hope’s hands  lift up Josie’s pajama top and the brunette lets out a desperate whimper in between their kiss when she feel Hope’s fingers gently caressing her bare skin near her breasts and then slowly go down again to the waistband of her shorts. Everything about Hope is intoxicating and Josie just can’t get enough. She feels so incredibly wet already and just wants the girl to fuck her senselessly.

Hope pulls away afterwards and Josie’s lips attempt to follow the girl’s, so she lifts herself up. Using her free hand, Hope pushes her back down to lie on the bed as she looks at her seductively and then situates herself in between Josie’s legs. The brunette swears that she has never seen someone look hotter than that. Hope slowly pulls down Josie’s shorts and smirks when she sees how wet the girl is. 

“How badly do you want me to touch you, baby?” Hope asks teasingly and Josie breathes in deeply.

“Very badly…” the brunette says desperately and Hope smirks once more before continuing with her teasing. She touches Josie everywhere around the area Josie wants to be touched the most just to drive her crazy and make her want it even more. 

“I love how wet you are,” Hope tells her, her voice so seductive and it turns Josie on even more. 

When the brunette finally feels the tip of Hope’s middle finger at her entrance, her breathing becomes even heavier. She grips the sheets tightly as a wave of satisfaction then hits her when Hope’s finger finally goes inside her. 

“Fuck…” Josie moans loudly and it’s like music to Hope’s ears.

With every move that Hope makes,  the sounds that come out of Josie’s mouth get louder .  She’s whimpering Hope’s name as the girl adds another finger and starts thrusting into her harder and hitting just the right spot.

Giving Josie an orgasm is now at the top of the list of activities that Hope loves. She thinks it’s one of the most beautiful things she’s ever seen in her life. She loves seeing Josie shaking because of her, feeling that euphoria all because of something she’s done to her. It’s amazing in Hope’s opinion. 

“Wow,” Josie lets out, her breathing heavy as if she had been running a marathon all this time. 

Hope moves back up and lies  down  next to her. She stares at Josie and thinks that the brunette is so incredibly beautiful. 

“You mean the world to me, Josie,” Hope tells her with a smile on her face.

Josie moves closer to the girl and presses their foreheads together. 

“Let’s forehead promise never to leave each other,” the brunette tells her, quoting a scene from the show Atypical that they watched earlier that night. 

“You’re such a dork,” Hope chuckles and closes her eyes. “Okay, I promise to never leave you.”

“I promise to never leave you, too.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


At around 5 AM, way after Hope and Josie fell asleep, the brunette’s phone suddenly starts ringing. Josie lets out a little groan and stirs in the bed, pulling away from Hope who has been clinging on to her like a baby koala. 

“What’s going on?” Hope asks with a sleepy voice without opening her eyes.

“I don’t know. Go back to sleep, okay?” Josie tells her and plants a quick kiss on her forehead before getting out of bed. The brunette looks at the phone’s screen and sees that her sister is calling her. She grabs her phone from the nightstand afterwards and then bolts out of the room, so she could talk to her without disturbing Hope.

As soon as Josie picks up the call, she hears Lizzie’s drunk voice on the other line. 

“Jo, come pick me up,” the blonde just tells her and goes quiet. 

Josie takes a deep breath, feeling incredibly annoyed at the moment.  “Lizzie, where are you?”  she asks her immediately and waits for her twin to say something. L izzie doesn’t let out even a peep for around 10-20 seconds, which prompts Josie to ask her again. When she does, Lizzie just starts laughing loudly against the phone, making Josie pull it away from her ear. “Is this a joke?” Josie asks her when she feels the laughter die down, now really pissed off at her sister.

“I’m at a party. Come fucking pick me up,” Lizzie finally says something after she finishes laughing. “201 Bowerswell Lane. I’m waiting ouside for you.”

Lizzie then hangs up the phone without letting Josie say anything, expecting her sister to do as she’s told without any objections. Josie lets out a frustrated sigh and then calls a cab. She then gets back inside the room to quickly get dressed. 

“What’s wrong?” Hope asks Josie as soon as she walks in, her voice worried. Ever since Josie got out of the room to take the call from Lizzie, the auburn-haired girl couldn’t go back to sleep, so she just waited for the girl to return.

“It’s Lizzie. I have to go pick her up from some party. She’s drunk,” Josie quickly explains and grabs some clothes from the dresser to put on. 

“Is she okay?” Hope asks, even though she sees that Josie seems very annoyed.

“I don’t know, she hung up after telling me the address,” Josie answers, trying to stay as calm as possible, but it’s difficult. 

“I’m coming with you,” Hope informs her and gets off the bed to get dressed as well.

Josie shakes her head and puts her hands on Hope’s shoulders to stop her.  “ No. There’s no point.”

“Jo-” Hope tries to speak again but Josie interrupts her.

“I promise that I’ll be quick. Just wait here, okay?” 

“But…”

“Please, Hope. I’ve done this before on multiple occasions. It’s not something new.”

H ope decides not to argue with the girl, so she just lets out a sigh. “Fine, but just be careful.”

“I will be.” 

Josie places a soft kiss on her lips and then starts getting dressed. She puts on the clothes  quickly  and at that moment,  right on cue, her phone rings. It’s the cab driver.  H e’s in front of the building. 

Josie makes her way out and quickly gets inside the yellow car. She immediately tells the driver the address and around 20 minutes later, the car reaches the destination.

“Wait here, please. I’ll go get my sister and we’ll come back,” Josie tells the driver and then gets out of the car. 

The house is huge and Josie can hear the loud music coming from it. Josie starts looking around for her sister. The girl did say she was waiting for her outside, so she must be here somewhere. There are some people passed out on the lawn in front. Josie takes out her phone and decides to just call her sister, but before she can, she hears her name being called out. 

“Josie!” 

The brunette turns around and sees the blonde coming out from behind a bush. God knows what she was even doing there. 

“Let’s go.” Josie grabs her by the arm and starts dragging her sister towards the cab. Lizzie begins laughing again. 

“Thank you for coming,” the blonde tells her sister as she follows her to the car. 

Josie only hears her sister express any sort of gratitude whenever she’s drunk. Otherwise, she would probably never say the words ‘thank you’ to her out loud.

When they get home, Hope is waiting for them  in the living room . She lets out a relieved sigh when the twins walk inside. The auburn-haired girl helps Josie get her sister  to Hope’s room where the auburn-haired girl had prepared the bed for Lizzie. She needs to be comfortable and get some sleep because she’ll definitely wake up with a major hangover in the morning.

“There you go,” Hope says as soon as Lizzie gets on the bed. 

Josie puts the covers over her as Lizzie grumbles something that both girls couldn’t  understand at all. 

“Babe, I can handle it from here. Thank you,” Josie tells Hope with a smile and gives her a peck on the lips. The auburn-haired girl then nods and goes back to Josie’s room, leaving the twins alone. 

“Josie,” Lizzie mumbles her sister’s name, her eyes half-open. 

“You should sleep, Lizzie.”

The blonde doesn’t listen, though, and instead grabs her sister  by the wrist. “I’m sorry that I’ve been a terrible sister to you.”

“Lizzie…”

“I do care about you and I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me. I just really suck at showing it.”

Josie  can tell that it’s how her sister really feels. People really are the most honest whenever they are drunk. They would definitely need to have a serious talk about everything when Lizzie is sober tomorrow. Right now, though, the blonde needs to rest. So Josie  smiles at her sister and then slowly leans forward to place a kiss on her forehead. 

“Don’t worry about it.”  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go, uninterrupted Hosie sexy time <3 I hope you enjoyed the fluff and smut and everything in between. :D <3 What can I say about the next chapter... hmm... We'll have Hope's family come for a visit. <3 Stay tuned for that.
> 
> Thank you all for keeping up with the story. I really appreciate all the comments that you guys leave, the kudos, bookmarks and subscriptions. Lots of love for all of you! <3 Stay safe, everyone!


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